Nobody Home Book, Benjamin Hampson, June 2022, London.
Overview and words by Laura Chen
https://www.gupmagazine.com/books/benjamin-hampson-nobody-home/
ABOUT
‘This is a book of photography and text from 2015 and 2016, and there are four deconstructions within it.
The first deconstruction is of my father’s physical being. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was undergoing rigorous chemotherapy treatments. Whilst dealing with the intensity of these, his arms and hands began freezing. He was a carpenter and he was struggling to hammer, cut and plane. It agitated him. A specialist diagnosed him as having Parkinson’s Disease. A diagnosis he found even more brutal than the cancer. He lost confidence in his work and the freezing episodes put him at risk of losing his driving license.
‘Deconstruction’ in the building trade means to dismantle something so that the individual elements are kept for reuse, rather than discarded.
The second deconstruction in the book is my own. My father was my absolute hero. I was in despair. I was in pieces during this period. I sought solace in masochism and excess because I couldn’t face the pain of seeing my father die. I saw death and religious iconography everywhere.
The text my father wrote over the course of his death is a third deconstruction. The hospital suggested he kept a medical journal of his day-to-day dealing with illness. It’s him breaking down the experience in forced, painful diaristic accounts of his body shutting down.
The last deconstruction is the photography. With each hand printed photographic exposure, with each chance to catch the essence of something that was being pulled away from me, I wanted tangibility and texture. The drapes thrown over the chairs in the living room. His workman’s yard – the metal and the rust. The nuts and bolts of a life falling apart.
…
DETAILS
Cover Design Mirko Borsche
Book Design Alec Mezzetti
Special Thanks Thomas Sharp, Stephanie & Family
Editor and sequencing Benjamin Hampson
First edition of 100 signed copies
21 x 16cm, 124 pages
Hard cover bound with silver foiling
Overview and words by Laura Chen
https://www.gupmagazine.com/books/benjamin-hampson-nobody-home/
ABOUT
‘This is a book of photography and text from 2015 and 2016, and there are four deconstructions within it.
The first deconstruction is of my father’s physical being. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was undergoing rigorous chemotherapy treatments. Whilst dealing with the intensity of these, his arms and hands began freezing. He was a carpenter and he was struggling to hammer, cut and plane. It agitated him. A specialist diagnosed him as having Parkinson’s Disease. A diagnosis he found even more brutal than the cancer. He lost confidence in his work and the freezing episodes put him at risk of losing his driving license.
‘Deconstruction’ in the building trade means to dismantle something so that the individual elements are kept for reuse, rather than discarded.
The second deconstruction in the book is my own. My father was my absolute hero. I was in despair. I was in pieces during this period. I sought solace in masochism and excess because I couldn’t face the pain of seeing my father die. I saw death and religious iconography everywhere.
The text my father wrote over the course of his death is a third deconstruction. The hospital suggested he kept a medical journal of his day-to-day dealing with illness. It’s him breaking down the experience in forced, painful diaristic accounts of his body shutting down.
The last deconstruction is the photography. With each hand printed photographic exposure, with each chance to catch the essence of something that was being pulled away from me, I wanted tangibility and texture. The drapes thrown over the chairs in the living room. His workman’s yard – the metal and the rust. The nuts and bolts of a life falling apart.
…
DETAILS
Cover Design Mirko Borsche
Book Design Alec Mezzetti
Special Thanks Thomas Sharp, Stephanie & Family
Editor and sequencing Benjamin Hampson
First edition of 100 signed copies
21 x 16cm, 124 pages
Hard cover bound with silver foiling
Overview and words by Laura Chen
https://www.gupmagazine.com/books/benjamin-hampson-nobody-home/
ABOUT
‘This is a book of photography and text from 2015 and 2016, and there are four deconstructions within it.
The first deconstruction is of my father’s physical being. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was undergoing rigorous chemotherapy treatments. Whilst dealing with the intensity of these, his arms and hands began freezing. He was a carpenter and he was struggling to hammer, cut and plane. It agitated him. A specialist diagnosed him as having Parkinson’s Disease. A diagnosis he found even more brutal than the cancer. He lost confidence in his work and the freezing episodes put him at risk of losing his driving license.
‘Deconstruction’ in the building trade means to dismantle something so that the individual elements are kept for reuse, rather than discarded.
The second deconstruction in the book is my own. My father was my absolute hero. I was in despair. I was in pieces during this period. I sought solace in masochism and excess because I couldn’t face the pain of seeing my father die. I saw death and religious iconography everywhere.
The text my father wrote over the course of his death is a third deconstruction. The hospital suggested he kept a medical journal of his day-to-day dealing with illness. It’s him breaking down the experience in forced, painful diaristic accounts of his body shutting down.
The last deconstruction is the photography. With each hand printed photographic exposure, with each chance to catch the essence of something that was being pulled away from me, I wanted tangibility and texture. The drapes thrown over the chairs in the living room. His workman’s yard – the metal and the rust. The nuts and bolts of a life falling apart.
…
DETAILS
Cover Design Mirko Borsche
Book Design Alec Mezzetti
Special Thanks Thomas Sharp, Stephanie & Family
Editor and sequencing Benjamin Hampson
First edition of 100 signed copies
21 x 16cm, 124 pages
Hard cover bound with silver foiling
Movie raw of Nobody Home, 2022.
