SHAPESHIFTING
(the price of this book is set by you using a tiered system which helps to directly support the artists involved)
Shapeshifting is a book by photography Evan Purdy and writer Molly Maltman exploring the inner transformations that happen through dance.
Over the last year, the two artists travelled across different cities, moved in many spaces, from underground raves in London to a squat fundraiser in Athens, to the house of a friend’s late father where they grieved through dance. The more they danced, moved, felt, the more they understood dance as an act of meditation. The dance floor – in whichever state that took – was no longer an escape, but a return to the self. No matter where they were, the feeling of dance was the same. More than a performance or a reflection of self-image, dancing is a way of liberating the constraints of the mind, to move with change, to move into a fresh state of being.
The book blends their respective contemplations and reflections of their experiences of dance –Molly through fragmented poetry and prose, Evan through photography. For Evan, the camera has always been a meditative tool for introspection that allows his to question his own inner reality. Dancing with his camera, he surrendered his body to the moment – becoming it, rather than observing it. In this way, the camera became an extension of his subconscious. His resulting long exposure photographs become visual abstractions of dance as a feeling, moving and changing with each breath.