Overview

Complements is a gem, an intimate book to be savoured on first readings and held near as a resource on what is real. It contains 115 luscious photos of small objects juxtaposed in ways that evoke emotions, thoughts, questions, and remembrance of beauty. The photographs tell stories, make wry jokes, and elude to larger realities of the esoteric. As complements, the objects are more than the sum of their parts. A sentence or two of text accompanies each photograph, creating storylines that draw the viewer into the world of the objects as strongly as if they were human, except, their not being human allows the viewer a purer sense of what they tell us. David Hume Kennedy, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, says in the foreword, 'The narrative and pictures reunite twins separated at birth.' The photographs pull the viewer in with their emotional content, then ask the viewer to step back for another look-to both feel and think, to understand truths beyond words.

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9781951541743

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Reviews

A beguiling series of visual images that each tell a richly layered story with uncommon depth and splendor. Each provokes a smile and ignites the imagination. This is a book to return to and savor. -- Sarah Brooks--IBM Distinguished Designer Does it exist, or is it an illusion? A flower, a feather, a slow-nourished nut, a stone created over eons--what thoughts, what emotions are stirred? It is sad, but cheerful. It is tender, but forceful. It draws the eye, the mind, the heart, if they be open, into the beyond, and into conversation with the self. --Hoffman Theron van Zijl, South African author, farmer, bush wanderer Patricia Smith reveals the universal within the local. She takes down the walls of mystery and guides us towards the everyday joys of life, all the time preserving the dignity of objects and, by extension, the dignity of our imaginations. --Colum McCann--author of NYT best-sellers Apeirogun and Let the Great World Spin This wondrous book is a study of the elegance, poignance, beauty, and the menace of the everyday things we use that might outlast us and reveal our secrets. Each photograph reveals the tension between the stuff and the story, the mundane and the epic, the ethereal and the practical. Patricia Z. Smith invites us into an unforgettable conversation between what lives, what dies, and what stays behind, by honoring the resilience of everyday objects that hold the complex truth of our humanity. --Karen Zacarias--award-winning playwright, 2021 US Artist Fellow, ...top ten produced playwrights (American Theater Magazine) Patricia Smith's photographs are like dreams to be unpacked. Her weird, mysterious, and intriguing images are archetypal and symbolic and, as are real objects, imbued with history and memory. With a background or sentence she wrote, the objects can fascinate or touch something deep inside the viewer, as well as draw them to the aesthetics of the compositions. Works of art, works of meaning! --Jean Shinoda Bolen MD, Jungian analyst, psychiatrist, author of 13 books, feminine activist Seduction is at work in this divine book for the mind to see deeply. A chick is born, a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. What will you do today? Similarities and irregularities stop making sense as Patricia Smith reminds us to tap into our senses, the bliss of a moment! Go with her from page to page to exercise the vast landscape of your mind. --Beatrix Ost--artist, author, ambassador of peace, fashion icon and designer

A beguiling series of visual images that each tell a richly layered story with uncommon depth and splendor. Each provokes a smile and ignites the imagination. This is a book to return to and savor. -- Sarah Brooks--IBM Distinguished Designer Does it exist, or is it an illusion? A flower, a feather, a slow-nourished nut, a stone created over eons--what thoughts, what emotions are stirred? It is sad, but cheerful. It is tender, but forceful. It draws the eye, the mind, the heart, if they be open, into the beyond, and into conversation with the self. --Hoffman Theron van Zijl, South African author, farmer, bush wanderer Patricia Smith reveals the universal within the local. She takes down the walls of mystery and guides us towards the everyday joys of life, all the time preserving the dignity of objects and, by extension, the dignity of our imaginations. --Colum McCann--author of NYT best-sellers Apeirogun and Let the Great World Spin Patricia Smith's photographs are like dreams to be unpacked. Her weird, mysterious, and intriguing images are archetypal and symbolic and, as are real objects, imbued with history and memory. With a background or sentence she wrote, the objects can fascinate or touch something deep inside the viewer, as well as draw them to the aesthetics of the compositions. Works of art, works of meaning! --Jean Shinoda Bolen MD, Jungian analyst, psychiatrist, author of 13 books, feminine activist This wondrous book is a study of the elegance, poignance, beauty, and the menace of the everyday things we use that might outlast us and reveal our secrets. Each photograph reveals the tension between the stuff and the story, the mundane and the epic, the ethereal and the practical. Patricia Z. Smith invites us into an unforgettable conversation between what lives, what dies, and what stays behind, by honoring the resilience of everyday objects that hold the complex truth of our humanity. --Karen Zacarias--award-winning playwright, 2021 US Artist Fellow, ...top ten produced playwrights (American Theater Magazine) Seduction is at work in this divine book for the mind to see deeply. A chick is born, a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. What will you do today? Similarities and irregularities stop making sense as Patricia Smith reminds us to tap into our senses, the bliss of a moment! Go with her from page to page to exercise the vast landscape of your mind. --Beatrix Ost--artist, author, ambassador of peace, fashion icon and designer

Author Information

Patricia Z. Smith was the photographer for the “War on Poverty.” She taught photography at the Smithsonian Institution and has had several one-person shows. She was a recognised playwright, a collector of pre-1850 quilts exhibited at the Smithsonian, and is a globally-recognised peace activist. More info at www.complementsthebook.com. Louise Brody has designed more than 100 books for a variety of leading British, American, and French publishers, museums, and the international press, as well as working with private clients to produce publications for important events or to commemorate achievements. David Hume Kennerly is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and was the White House photographer under President Gerald Ford. He has photographed 11 presidents, and historic events around the world. His photographs are icons of American history.

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