Front cover photograph: VIVIAN MAIER, Self-portrait, New York, NY, 1955 © Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy of Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

NO. 7, SELFIES

Sylvie Weil
Translated by Ros Schwartz
160 pages, paperback with French flaps, isbn 978-1-9993318-2-5

Publication: 25 June 2019

Taking selfies is not the exclusive preserve of millennials.

In Selfies, Sylvie Weil gives a playful twist to the concept of self-representation: taking her cue from self-portraits by women artists, ranging from the 13th c. through the Renaissance to Frida Kahlo and Vivian Maier, Weil has written a memoir in pieces, that is yet unified. Each picture acts as a portal to a significant moment from Weil’s own life and sparks anecdotes tangentially touching on topical issues, from the Palestinian question to the pain of a mother witnessing her son’s psychotic breakdown, to the subtle manifestations of anti-Semitism, to ageism, genetics and a Jewish dog...

‘A beguiling series of vignettes, by turns wry, amusing and disturbing, inspired by self-portraits by women artists and reflecting on the images they provoke. An illuminating survey of the author’s various identities, in a fractured world, as mother, lover and writer.’ – Michèle Roberts