CAROLYN DRAKE - KNIT CLUB

CAROLYN DRAKE
KNIT CLUB

Published by TBW Books, 2020
Book size 20 x 28 cm
Pages 118 pages
50 images
Hardcover
Language English
ISBN 978-1-942953-40-1
© Carolyn Drake/Magnum Photos. Courtesy TBW Books

“A foreboding meditation in the vein of Southern Gothic literature, Drake's most recent body of work emerged through her collaboration with an enigmatic group of women loosely calling themselves “Knit Club.” The nature of the club is ambiguous. It is a cross between a gang, a cult of mysteries, and a group of friends bound by secrets only they share.

The book follows a narrative structure loosely borrowed from Faulkner's As I Lay Dying –– that is to say, not one omniscient narrator but many disparate stream-of-consciousness voices. We sense the authorship of the photographs to be collaborative, the result of creative play between Drake and the club in which she found herself embedded, their process a kind of alchemy. In the style of the Gothic, Drake's masterful use of color to create mood opens the door to the tension between the real and the supernatural. What we find, however, is not grotesque but something vital. A community that manages to exist outside the gaze or control of men. Women, children, and mothers, shrouded in masks and mystery to live a life on their own terms.” -Publisher

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“A disquieting meditation in the vein of Southern Gothic literature, Drake’s most recent work grew out of her collaboration with an enigmatic group of women who loosely called themselves the “Knit Club.” The nature of the club is ambiguous. It’s a cross between a gang, a mystery cult, and a group of friends bound together by secrets they don’t share.

The book follows a narrative structure loosely borrowed from Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying—that is, not one omniscient narrator but many disparate stream-of-consciousness voices. There is a sense that the authorship of the photographs is collaborative, the result of a creative play between Drake and the club she has found herself embedded in, their process a kind of alchemy. In the style of the Gothic, Drake’s masterful use of color to create mood opens the door to the tension between the real and the supernatural. What we find, however, is not grotesque but something vital. A community that manages to exist outside the gaze or control of men. Women, children, and mothers, shrouded in masks and mystery to live a life on their own terms. - Editor