Bananas and “a whole lot of the bad luck”: Max Siedentopf and JP Bonino’s latest collaboration

Is there much that’s funnier than someone slipping on a banana skin? We can’t think of too many answers to that question here at It’s Nice That so when we saw the latest absurd (and very good) collaboration between Max Siedentopf and JP Bonino we got very excited.

“Banana is a series which follows a young couple around some of South America’s most breath-taking landscapes, who, with a lot of misfortune, always slip on a banana, reads the description of the duo’s recent publication. Having worked on two projects together previously – including the It’s Nice That and Dropbox Dream Team – the pair’s latest instalment is as funny as you’d expect from the German artist and Argentinian photographer.

The project began at the end of last year Max tells It’s Nice That: “[JP] sent me a mail with a folder full of beautiful photos of places that he and his girlfriend Felisa [Lacroze] were going to travel to and asked if we should use the opportunity to work on a new project together.” The result is a book which perfectly balances the rare combination of extraordinary visuals and slapstick humour.

A seemingly random concept, Max got the idea for Banana “probably while standing in the fruit section of the supermarket”, of course. “Slipping on a banana is probably one of the most classic acts in comedy and I was very curious how it would look like to see it repeat over and over and over again,” he explains.

Produced with “a whole lot of the bad luck” the images are perfectly posed, their compositions only adding to the comedic value. As well as 68 pages of hilarity, the book also comes with a custom cover featuring banana stickers from all over the work. For this aspect, the duo collaborated with Kelly Angood who runs the Instagram account @fruit_stickers, an “endless archive of wonderful banana stickers”.