AINSI SOIT-IL “SO BE IT”

AINSI SOIT-IL “SO BE IT” – Limited edition photobook by Ari Marcopoulos with text by Kara Walker. All photographs were taken on trips in 2018 and 2019, when Ari and Kara went to visit their friends Robert Frank and June Leaf in their home in Mabou Mines, on Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Marcopoulos: “I came around the bend of the unpaved road that opened up onto a bay and a view out to the ocean as far as the eye could see. I knew this view very well, even though it was my first time there. I had seen it in the Scalo edition of Robert Frank’s book The Lines of My Hand. The cover is graced with a drawing by June Leaf, Robert’s wife. They invited Kara and me to their summer house in Mabou. We were visiting our friends, but that view from the bay made it feel like a pilgrimage to me. We spent time talking, sitting in silence, and sharing meals. Ainsi soit-il, was the sentence Robert taught me. Translated: So be it. There you have it.”

The book was produced in 2021 but only released in 2023. It comes in a sleeve with 4 inserts, including a signed Riso print in black, blue or red, randomly selected out of two picture options.