WOLMAN, Gil Joseph. Vivre loin. Paris: Loeve&Co, 2023. n.p. [56 p.]; ill.; 22.5 x 29.5 cm.; black wrappers with text in grey, housed inside 23 x 30 cm. card covers.

Facsimile of a previously unpublished photonovel, created by Wolman in 1973. Leveraging the techniques of collage and detournement, the 56-page work is reminiscent of Situationist detourned comics, as well as Ralph Rumney’s Leaning Tower of Venice.

The political dimension is immediately obvious: on page 1, one can read, “les trois usines d’assemblage de Renault sont fermées” (“Renault’s three assembly plants have been shut down”). This is a reference to the massive work stoppage at the French automaker on April 18, 1973, just as Wolman was putting together this photonovel. Two pages later, one comic bubble reads “LE FREINAGE DES HAUSSES DES PRIX n’est-il pas payé d’un prix trop élevé ?” (“Isn’t it the price of slowing down price inflation too high to bear?”) , a headline from the April 19, 1973 issue of the French daily Le Monde. While we very much hope some enterprising scholar will carry a more thorough analysis of the detournement at play here, the influence of the Situationist aesthetic and discourse are manifest.

We locate no copies on OCLC. Individual copies can be purchased from Galerie Loeve&Co in Paris.