Maktak and Gasoline

Book coverMaktak and Gasoline
Book coverMaktak and Gasoline
Book coverMaktak and Gasoline
Book coverMaktak and Gasoline

Maktak and Gasoline documents the small community of whalers in Point Hope, an Inuit settlement in Alaska. That this is where photographer Ellis Doeven found love – she had a child with local whale-hunter Othniel Art Oomittuk jr. – is perhaps the reason why this portrait of a community in the harsh Arctic environment has become so full of love and warmth – without the slightest sentimentality. Landscapes scintillating in the Arctic light are interspersed with scenes of the hard life: whale parts with the steaming gunge that is released during the butchering and is called maktak; carcases, but children playing too. The feeling for colour – much metallic blue – is evident throughout. Designer Sybren Kuiper – nom de guerre -SYB- – has had fun both inside and outside this book: photo spreads turn out to include smaller pages which, when turned, reveal the text. When closed, double fold-outs show us the village in the open air; when they are opened we see interiors and their occupiers. The warmth of the houses, the intimacy of the interior scenes and the contrast with the glittering cold outdoors is thus presented very intuitively and pregnantly. The printing is as crispy fresh as a cloudless subzero sky. Wamth and cold, intimacy and inhospitality are the counterpoints of a book that’s as fresh and clear as an ice cube.

Edition: 2018
Date of publication: April 2018
Author: Ellis Doeven
Language: English
Image editor: Sybren Kuiper -SYB-
Photographer: Ellis Doeven
Artist: Ellis Doeven
Publisher: Ellis Doeven Photography, Amsterdam
Available through: Webshop, bookshop
Graphic designer: Sybren Kuiper -SYB- (Den Haag)
Lithographer: Colour & Books (Sebastiaan Hanekroot), Apeldoorn
Printer: Wilco Art Books, Amersfoort
Binder: FopmaWier boekbinderij, Wier
Book producer: Jos Morree Fine Books, Weesp
Size book block (w x h x d in mm): 170 x 230 x 22
Number of pages: 190
Print run: 700
Price: € 50
ISBN: 978 90 828465 0 8
Font and foundry: Action Condensed Light Grade 1 (Commercial Type), Minion Pro (Adobe), Universe Condensed (Linotype)
Binding style: Sewn hardback with flat spine, interior has fold-outs and insets
Paper for interior (grammage): 100gsm and 150gsm Munken Krystall Rough, Arctic Paper | Antalis
Endpapers (grammage): 150gsm Munken Krystall Rough over 22 mm greyboard, Arctic Paper | Antalis
Special features: Foil stamping (Luxor 369 KURZ) applied by FopmaWier Boekbinderij.