Annika Felder
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Wrapped in photography dripping with energy, elation and friendship, lies a raw and intimate story told by photographer Gabriella Angotti-Jones. Through her images and diary-like entries she shares the complexity of finding community during a pandemic, navigating depression and her experiences with growing up in one of the only mixed-race Black families in a small Orange County beach town.
Services
Book concept
Editorial Design
Photography & text
Gabriella Angotti-Jones
Publisher
Mass Books, Massachusetts (USA)
Project
2022
Awards
European Design Awards (2023) - Gold in the category ‘Artistic Catalogue’
Selected for Best Dutch Bookdesign, Netherlands (2022)
Aperture Photobook Awards (2022) – Shortlisted in the category ‘First photobook’
This project was created during employment at LMNOP.works
In this story – framed in a combination of photo book, zine and diary – she defies the conventional surfing narrative by documenting the lives of Black women and non-binary surfers in the context of a sport mostly dominated by white men.
The design of the book is inspired by 1990s / early 2000s surf culture and magazines. Much like waves, the stories in this book come crashing down at you with raw emotion, reminding us of the therapeutic quality of friendship and the ocean.
‘I Just Wanna Surf’ challenges the traditional surfing narrative by documenting a community of Black women and non-binary surfers. The images juxtapose the joy of friendship and the refuge found in the ocean’s wildness with the underlying racial tensions. With sensitivity and vulnerability, her text explores her experience with depression and the sense of peace brought by the sport.
“It’s a photo book but it’s also a diary that also feels like the best zines from my childhood.” – Porochista Khakpour (Los Angeles Review of Books)
