Overview

Between 2011 and 2014 PJ Harvey and Seamus Murphy set out on a series of journeys together to Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington, D.C.. Harvey collected words, Murphy collected pictures, and together they created an extraordinary chronicle of our life and times. The Hollow of the Hand marks the first publication of Harvey’s powerful poetry, in conversation with Murphy’s indelible images. It is a landmark project and will be published internationally in autumn 2015. As PJ Harvey says: ‘Gathering information from secondary sources felt too far removed for what I was trying to write about. I wanted to smell the air, feel the soil and meet the people of the countries I was fascinated with. Following our work on Let England Shake, my friend Seamus Murphy and I agreed to grow a project together lead by our instincts on where we should go.’ Seamus Murphy adds: ‘Polly is a writer who loves images and I am a photographer who loves words. Our relationship began a few years ago when she asked me if I would like to take some photographs and make some films for her last album Let England Shake. I was intrigued and the adventure began, now finding another form in this book. It is our look at home and the world.’ The Hollow of the Hand will be available in two formats: a hardback edition with highest quality photographic reproductions, as well as a reader’s paperback version. A limited number of signed special editions will be also available.

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9781408865736

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Reviews

Prepare to have your conscience shaken Daily Telegraph Precision and a sense of artistry ... Murphy's photographs have an ability to capture war without judgement ... An uplifting exploration of a brutal subject The Times Astonishing ... Mesmerising ... By turns harrowing, evocative, poignant and, yes, even humorous. Ultimately, the words and pictures are testament to undiminished human resilience ... Spellbinding ... Fascinating and occasionally disturbing Sun Excellent ... The imagery suggests an unhealing national bruise, one still so tender that blood might flow at any time ... At once celebratory and deflated ... The Hollow of the Hand is a sincere and sincerely impressive collection Independent Murphy's stories and films Illuminate Harvey's crisply enunciated poems as well as his own arresting images ... Punchy and vivid Guardian Their combined reportage consists of a series of stark images, lyrical and visual ... Pictures of airstrike aftermaths, and Afghans with faces like novels **** Evening Standard A well-produced collaboration. Both contain striking imagery. Murphy - who has won seven World Press Photo awards - has an original eye and a storyteller's sense of an unfolding narrative New Statesman This book is as handsomely produced as its subjects are in dire straits ... Heartfelt and serious ... Every picture tells a story ... Murphy's eye unites one subject with the next. He is especially good at taking photographs of figures in a landscape overwhelmed by the vastness. I loved the extraordinary pictures of Afghanistan's beautiful, hostile and seemingly endless horizons Observer Murphy emphasises the resilience and continuation of life amidst immense turmoil ... As with Murphy's images, Harvey's poetry is full of empathic insight and the central focus is on common humanity ... In her collaborations with Murphy, Harvey is not only asking difficult questions, but pushing against the restrictions usually placed on artists to stay within a certain remit or medium Quietus Extraordinary ... A remarkable portfolio of images shared with the audience that, at times, have the ability to draw out the humour in the haunting ... Deeply poignant **** Morning Star

[T.S.] Eliot's influence extends across the whole of P.J. Harvey's Let England Shake, which pieces together voices and images from multiple decades and countries, and collapses all that history into a single ongoing commentary on war and nationalism. You often can't tell which lines Harvey wrote herself and which she took from existing sources; among other things, The Waste Land 's collage technique is a license to borrow without shame. -- The Guardian

Author Information

PJ Harvey has released eight critically acclaimed albums, been nominated for six Grammy Awards, and is the only artist to have been awarded the UK’s prestigious Mercury Prize twice (for her albums Stories from the City, Stories From The Sea and Let England Shake). In 2013, she was awarded an MBE for services to music. The Hollow of the Hand is her first published collection of poetry. Seamus Murphy has documented life and change around the world. He has won seven World Press Photo awards for work from Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Gaza, Lebanon, Peru, Ireland and England. His depiction of Afghanistan and the Afghans over more than a decade was published as a book, A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan.

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