Bookshelf: Fantastic photographer Maya Fuhr lets us glimpse her top five reads
Maya Fuhr’s gritty portraits of men and women came crashing into our world a few months ago, resulting in is featuring her messy bedroom series which went on to be one of our most successful articles this year – fact! We couldn’t wait to find out which books inspire someone whose work is so closely connected to fashion, pop culture and contemporary youth, and her fantastic selection has not disappointed. Here she is…
Grace. A Memoir
This book is incredible! I couldn’t put it down. Mostly because I can truly relate to Grace Coddington and her audacious personality and subtle sense of humour. The book is pretty slow-paced and unnecessarily detail-heavy, but that’s my style. Her long life in fashion led for some crazy relationships and hilarious private points of view standing around so many famous photoshoots. Her stories make me appreciate the photos I have known and grown to love since I was a kid. It’s like an inside scoop on the snobby culture of Vogue.
Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest is a play that plays with words! I love the characters, and the struggle with self, identity and alter egos. It’s a great read and definitely made me laugh a few times.
The Stories of John Cheever
This is a short stories collection of John Cheever. He is know as the “Chekhov of the suburbs.” When I read his stories I’m immediately transported into his world where I’m in New York City listening to the radio and drinking a whiskey.
500 Self Portraits
This is a picture book that displays a sequence of 500 self-portraits from as early as the 12th Century up til now. The impulse that artists have to document their own face helps us understand the being behind them. With so many “selfies” and iPhone photos these days, it’s refreshing to see more classic forms of self-portraiture, through painting and analogue photography. I’m doing my own series right now where I set up my film camera to take self-portraits – it allows me to get into different characters and ugly versions of myself behind a non-judgemental lens.
Patrick Marber: Closer
Closer, the play, has all the great elements in one short story. Tragedy, comedy, and melodrama. I’ve seen this play performed so many times, and watched the movie more than a couple of times as well, so it really brings the book to life. The characters all have tough relationships with truth and the theme that “no one is made closer through the truth” makes you feel like you’re holding all these secrets yourself.
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Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.