What the Rain Might Bring

Casebound flexicover with printed edges and spine
144 pages (with 7 gatefolds), 72 duotone plates
8 x 10 in / 203 x 254 mm
2024
ISBN 978-1-942953-66-1

TBW Books 推出攝影師 Dylan Hausthor 的首部作品《What the Rain Might Bring》。這本書本身即是一件藝術品，設計上以黑邊與書脊印刷作為框架，全書沒有任何文字，僅在封面上印有簡單的標題。極簡的設計營造出沉浸式的感官體驗，使讀者在視覺與觸覺的交織之間，進入一個充滿神秘色彩的世界。

Hausthor 受到 David Arora 的蕈類辨識指南啟發，以大幅黑白攝影探索人類、植物與動物世界之間豐富的互動。《What the Rain Might Bring》深入探討故事敘述、信仰、民間傳說，以及自然界內在的奇異性（queerness）。其影像召喚出異教、巫術、宗教、無政府主義與神秘儀式的氛圍，構築了一場直白卻又暗藏玄機的視覺旅程。

在 Hausthor 那片狂野的世界中，人物與景觀化為敘事的媒介，編織出顛覆現實感知的新故事。畫面中的貓頭鷹振翅飛翔、一列隊伍行進、嬰兒吸吮母親的乳房、巨大的蘑菇、以及靜待獵物的蜘蛛網，共同構築出一個人類角色顯得脆弱，而大自然主宰一切的世界。每一張照片在詭譎與迷人、幽默與陰森之間來回擺盪。

Hausthor 的作品核心圍繞著「故事敘述中事實的不穩定性」。觀者被引入一個刻意模糊真實與藝術創作界線的空間。Hausthor 的攝影融合了即興調查新聞、誤導性資訊與表演性元素，顛覆傳統自然攝影的框架。最終，這部作品探索了一個「後事實」的世界，在寓言與現實之間消弭界限，使觀者不禁重新審視自身的信念。

本書的結構由七個精緻的摺頁貫穿，象徵著 Hausthor 連續七晚被一隻飛蛾造訪的經歷——這段私密的時間印記，為整本書增添了一種日誌般的特質。這些摺頁邀請讀者參與一場儀式，使書籍本身轉化為冥想般的神聖物件，映照出現實的破碎、流動與深刻的人性。

TBW Books presents What the Rain Might Bring, the debut release from photographer Dylan Hausthor. Designed as a work of art in its own right, the book features a frame—black edge and spine printing—and is completely devoid of text with only a simple title on its cover. The minimalist design sets the stage for an immersive sensory experience that intertwines the tactile and the visual, drawing readers into a world steeped in mysticism.

Inspired by David Arora’s mushroom identification guide, Hausthor’s large-format black-and-white photographs explore the rich interplay between human, plant, and animal realms. What the Rain Might Bring delves into themes of storytelling, faith, folklore, and the inherent queerness of nature. The images evoke a sense of pagan, Wiccan, religious, anarchic, and mystic rituals, offering a visual exploration that is at once candid and full of hidden secrets.

Within Hausthor’s untamed world, characters and landscapes become conduits, weaving together new narratives that challenge perceptions of reality. The imagery—an owl mid-flight, a procession of figures, an infant nursing at its mother’s breast, a towering mushroom, and spiders in their webs—paints a world where human roles feel fragile, overshadowed by the dominance of nature. Each photograph oscillates between the eerie and enchanting, the humorous and the haunting.

Central to Hausthor’s work is a fascination with the instability of fact in storytelling. The viewer is drawn into a space where the line between truth and artistic license is deliberately blurred. Hausthor’s photography integrates elements of ad hoc investigative journalism, disinformation, and performance, disrupting traditional approaches to nature photography. The result is an exploration of a post-fact world, where the boundaries between parable and reality dissolve, leaving the viewer to question what they believe.

The book’s structure is anchored by seven delicate gatefolds, symbolizing the consecutive nights Hausthor was visited by a moth—an intimate marker of times that lends the work a diaristic quality. These pages invite readers into a ritualistic experience, transforming the book into a meditative artifact that reflects the fractured, fluid, and deeply human nature of reality itself.