shashasha

The long-awaited Japanese edition of Sophie Calle's cathartic exploration of pain

The story of Sophie Calle's "Douleur Exquise" ("Exquisite Pain") begins in 1984 with a visit to Japan that, unbeknownst to Calle, began a 92-day countdown to a bad breakup. Soon after the event ("a trivial one, but one that I experienced as the most painful moment of my life"), she began to confront her suffering directly by asking friends and acquaintances about their most painful moments in life. In 2003, almost twenty years later, Calle gave shape to her experiences in the form of an almost investigative narrative told through photographs and words.

This complete edition is based on the exhibition "Sophie Calle - Douleur Exquise," held at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo from 1999 to 2000 and again in 2019, and includes previously untranslated portions of the work. The book was designed in close collaboration with the artist and includes a commentary by curator Aomi Okabe.