A staggering number of images make up Leipzig-based photographer frank Madler’s new artist’s book. Kopal is the culmination of an obsessive 20-year project documenting every aspect of the artist’s personal life, neighborhood, family, meals and social events until 2012, when his stock of discontinued SX-70 Polaroid film ran out. The final publication mimics the structure of a quaint family album—but 1,224 Polaroids later, it’s something more personal and complex being presented. In a departure from the large-format photographs that comprise the bulk of his production, Kopal focuses on small images, catalogued chronologically (as they appear in the book), alphabetically and also according to Madler’s own whimsical personal categories. This makes for a self-charted voyage of discovery through the artist’s very personal history. With a text by Insa Wilke.
