Paul Kooiker and Erik Kessels, Highly Uncomfortable Photo Books, 2019

Paul Kooiker’s and Erik Kessels’s fascination for pictorial non-fiction books comes from the need to find images that exist on the fringe of regular commercial photo books. It’s only in this area that it’s possible to find images with an uncontrived quality. Books like this are rarely available in regular shops and have to be found, like a treasure, in thrift stores and from antiquaries. Highly Uncomfortable Photo Books is the third publication in a sequel of Kooiker’s and Kessels’s collection of unconventional photo books. After ‘Terribly Awesome Photo Books’ and ‘Incredibly Small Photo Books’, this publication focusses on books that are barely watchable because of its controversial nature. Shown are books about sex, war, propaganda, medicine and balloons.