Mark Borthwick Xerox
WE FADE TO GREY. MARK BORTHWICK'S XEROX VARIATIONS. THE PHOTOCOPIES OF HIS OWN PHOTOBOOKS ARE EVEN BETTER THAN THE REAL THING.
Mark Borthwick's photobook
Social Documentaries Amid This Pist
was published in 2002. This is not that book but a xerox copy, also by Mark Borthwick and (most likely) made in 2002. You can compare the published book
here
and the photocopied copy
here. The story is that Borthwick made the copies for friends who missed out on the first edition.
Borthwick's collaboration with Martin Margiela (titled 2000-1, but featuring the 1998-9 collections) was made for the xerox treatment. What could be more Margiela than a trompe l'oeil photocopied version of an original book? It is perfect book, a super book no less.
Borthwick can be pretty obfuscating at times but the grey on grey repro with off-centre page layout suits a photo of a model buried under a pile of pillows. Or indeed a
model behind a plant!
And this is the xerox version of
Synthetic Voices.
Originally published in 1997, the photocopy was made some time after 2002. Borthwick must have caught the xerox bug. Here the actual book was placed on the copier and reduced to 80% to fit the paper size. The page edges and the gutter are all clearly in shot. It's way better than the original!
Stella Tennant in Margiela from the xerox 2000-1. See the photocopy version
here. The orginal version is pretty stunning too. See it
here - like coming out of a tunnel - the colour is so bright!
There are four xerox books in all. This image of a model beside a plant (we are assuming its Chloe but not entirely sure) is from the photocopy version of Borthwick's book 1978.