00A featured in Photobook belge, FOMU/Hannibal, 2019, p. 328. Text by Ingrid Leonard.

Photobooks have been one of the most effective means of expression for photographers since photography began. They remain in circulation, are portable and can be reissued, thus reaching a larger public than an exhibition ever could. To date, hardly any research has been conducted into Belgian photobooks. Photobook Belge aims to fill this gap by providing an overview of the evolution of the Belgian photobook from the mid-19th century to today. This exhibition and publication are finally giving the Belgian Photobook – a concept in itself – the recognition it deserves. The publication Photobook Belge is published by FOMU in partnership with Hannibal.

The title 00A refers to the mark at the beginning of a 35 mm film roll, prior to the beginning of the actually usable film. In the analogue photography age, the photographer clicked the shutter without looking and rolled the film on until reaching '1A', at which point they started to consciously direct the camera at the subject. Over the years, Dominique Somers searched for these early exposures, which are normally cut off from the developed strip of negatives. For a long time she worked as a collection manager and curator at the Fotomuseum Antwerp, and in her own artistic practice she often starts from archives and found images or objects. For this series, she collected more than 500 'unsuccessful' photos, 317 of which were published in a book. The result reads like an archive of the photographer-less camera. 

In 00A we see abstract surfaces with a hint of the outside world: keys, a pattern of a carpet, feet, more feet, a chessboard, an arm, part of a door... Unconscious fragments recorded accidentally ahead of a conscious action. They are the images of a machine, without a photographer, but not without an author. Somers is present in the selection and sequencing process, guiding the reader through the accidents that reveal the photographic process. Page after page, the image appears in the upper left or right corner, small, as if not wanting to draw attention to itself. The repetition creates surprises and unexpected images. The series documents as a phenomenon that will soon cease to exist. Somers does not treat the images as curiosities or smeared by nostalgia. They are what they are. They were and are not prints, the book is an end point.

Published by Ghent-based Art Paper Editions, with eight different covers, 00A was shortlisted for both the Paris Photo Aperture PhotoBook Awards and Best Photobook at Les Rencontres d'Arles in 2016. - Ingrid Leonard