MARC: So are these photos also a way to connect somehow to your own memories?
KARINE: I didn't make that connection before, but yes. Unconsciously, there is that connection, certainly.
MARC: When did you decide this should be a book?
KARINE: I saw it as a book right away. But it's a good thing that, over the years, it never happened
when I was hoping it would happen because I kept photographing and the project expanded, so the
book took on a form I hadn't envisioned in the beginning. In this case, I felt several times that the book
was finished but I was never satisfied with the publishers that were either interested or that I had ac-
cess to. So, I kept revisiting it over the years, and it turned into these three chapters.
MARC: Like a story.
KARINE: I had this cinematographic vision, even for the layout and the design of the book. If you turn
the pages, there is a sense of movement that reflects the motion and the energy around the pools. I
wanted to convey that in the design of the book, so about six, seven years ago, I started to print all the
images I had then and laid them out on my floor and took pictures of them.
MARC: Pictures of pictures? You actually put your photos on the floor?
KARINE: They were on the floor for a long time, and then I moved them around—changed the order.
It came natural to put them in a chronological order.
MARC: Chronological and geographical?
KARINE: I don't really localize the images and tell people where I took them because, for me, it's a time-
less and universal feeling. It's poetry. If you identify the place, you take away this poetic feeling, and
it's harder for people to identify with their own experiences.
MARC: So there's an emotional connection for the viewer too.
KARINE: There's something very emotional about it. I explore all sorts of emotions, which are also my
own emotions: the fear of death, the attraction to danger, the transformation, the personal transforma-
tion as we get older and go through life. There are all kinds of metaphors. And of course, the more
obvious aspects, the sense of pleasure and leisure.
MARC: How did you end up with Steidl as a publisher? He's the best publisher for photographers.
People wait a long time.
KARINE: The first time I saw the possibility of the book in 2003, the first person I thought about was
Gerhard Steidl. He is the publisher for photographers—the best photographers—so it crossed my
mind, but I had no connection. It was at the very beginning of my new life as a photographer and
artist. It was a far-way possibility. So first, I started to ask friends for connections to other publishers.
MARC: How did that go?
KARINE: It didn't work out. I wanted something special. I wanted my work not just to reflect and look
as close as possible to the prints of the the artwork. I actually wanted it to stand by itself, to be a unique
piece, almost a piece of art by itself. But a lot of these publishers always use the same two or three pa-
pers, and the size is often standard, and so is the number of pages.
MARC: So you waited for Steidl?
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