First released in 2018 and quickly selling out, Because is now back in print, featuring six additional stories and seven new photographs.
In July 1985, artists Hervé Guibert, Jacques Monory, Denis Roche, and Sophie Calle were invited to an evening at the Théâtre Antique in Arles, where they projected and discussed their photographs. Denis Roche, who closed the event, presented his work in an unconventional way: in complete darkness, he described the circumstances leading up to each shot, then unveiled the image for just the brief moment of a click.
That fleeting reveal became the inspiration for Because. Following Denis Roche’s approach, Sophie Calle narrates the motivations behind each press of the shutter. “Because of the temptation to follow it” explains The White Line (2018), depicting a road marking disappearing beneath water. “Because what else after nothing more?” accompanies Leaving Plurien (2018), a photograph of the town’s exit sign facing the cemetery.
In Because, discovery unfolds in two parts: Calle’s stories come first, while the images remain hidden within the folds of the book’s Japanese binding, waiting to be revealed.