Robyn's Hasselblad
Robyn's Hasselblad
The Lytlewode Press | Göteborg | 2024 (forthcoming)
Text and 80 colour and black & white photographs by Caitlin E. Littlewood
Pictured: Dummy version
From 2018, Caitlin E. Littlewood carried with her Robyn Beeche’s film camera. Littlewood conceived the project and publication Robyn’s Hasselblad as an expression of a would-be close relationship with someone she had never met. Robyn’s Hasselblad visually portrays the space created where an imagined dialogue is formed between the two photographers, Littlewood and Beeche. A faulty Hasselblad film magazine produces unexpected double and triple exposures, while gestures of beauty, youth and unloveliness are captured through the 100mm lens.
Littlewood’s visual expression is informed by the camera’s owner, the aesthetics of the Scandinavian photography milieu and by her own experiences and journey as a fine art photographer.
Australian fashion photographer Robyn Beeche (1945-2015) is renown for her treatment of the body as a canvas. She photographed the counter-culture scene in 1980s London and made an immense contribution to fashion photography.
Robyn’s Hasselblad is set to be published by The Lytlewode Press in 2024 and will be produced within the English private press tradition. That is, a small limited de luxe edition of 100 copies with fine binding, the text set monotype and printed letterpress, and hand-tipped in inkjet photographs using fine materials such as Hahnemühle Photo Rag for the printing of the photographs and Saunders Waterford 190gsm Hot Press pure cotton paper for the book paper stock, The Lytlewode Press sets out to transform the photo book into an art object of its own merit. The book will be case bound in black cloth with matching slip case and have text blocking to the spine and front cover. A shiny black blocking for the text will be used to create a subtle and elegant aesthetic. The front cover will have a block purpose-made for this edition, featuring the iconic outline of the square negative frame that results from the Hasselblad. The book will be 120 pages supporting text and images by Caitlin E. Littlewood.