Pura Vida

Pura Vida is an artist book written by Tasja Keetman. I was sifting through the photo section at the library when I found this book.When I opened it, all I saw was bunch of words that looked like the artist had written whole pages and then took out all the important bits. I was still confused though as to why this was in the photography section. It wasn't until my fourth look at the book that I figured it it out. The artist had made this book using an accordion fold and placed the images inside the folds. This forces the viewer to peek inside the crevices to see the images. I don't know why it took my dumb ass so long to figure it out but I love it. Text whose, she is talking about the many physical and emotional scars she has had to go through in her life. Personally, I really related to a lot of the things she was saying. For example:

• "There were some dark times in my life, but it takes darkness so one can love the light"
• "After all I had lived through up until then to was just like oh, another thing, ah well" 
• "You are invited to celebrate the light side of life, celebrate, the dark side of life, one is not without the other" 
• "It seemed that this something extra had my back, was watching feeling me"

The title of the in english means "Pure Life." I think the above quotes I selected answer why she decided to title this book that. It's something to think about.

http://www.tasjakeetman.com/#photoart