Unfold is an artist-book that explores what constitutes the public and private self, with a particular emphasis on the displaced self, embodied by the immigrant. The book is composed primarily of images from the artist’s family archive, and features the many “homes” that have marked the artist’s immigrant history as well as documenting the many familial moments of transit, and of leaving or arriving “home”. The images also document the private events that take place in these homes as a means of questioning the nature of both personal and public memory. The work is inspired by the Deleuzian concept of the ‘fold’, and seeks to explore our understanding of subjectivity by proposing the discovery of new ways of folding the world ‘into’ the self. Unfold includes several fold-out images, that are hidden within the structure of the book, and the cover sleeve. This book employs the cliché of the family album to query the currency and construction of multiple and concurrent histories and sites of belonging. Unfold is a companion work to the film You Are Here (2009) by John DI Stefano, and was published in occasion of the exhibition The Return (2011) at Enjoy Public Art Gallery (Wellington, New Zealand)

More info: http://www.johndistefano.net

John Di Stefano is a Canadian artist, filmmaker, writer, and curator, and is currently Associate Professor at University of Sydney – Sydney College of the Arts. His exhibition career spans over 25 years, and his studio practice is focused primarily in video/film, installation and photo-based media, but also includes public art, performance and bookwork. Past artist books include VITALITY (Artextes, Montreal). His video work has won several awards, including the New Vision Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and has been broadcast on American public television (PBS). John has been involved in several international curatorial projects in Australasia and North America, and has programmed for various film festivals. He also has an active publishing career and his critical writings appear in various journals and publications. He is an editor for Art AsiaPacific.

Established in June 2000, Enjoy Public Art Gallery is a non-commercial, artist-run initiative based in Wellington, New Zealand.