Hidden Hills plays in the lands of the American West. It celebrates a mythical ritualistic dimension, the fading presence of ancient voices that whispered back from the ‘empty’ desert. Five years ago the photographer Cornelia Thonhauser started to explore the American West. During many road trips and long walks through the Sonoran Desert, she started to perceive the landscape as a container for her geographical and anthropological research. Taking images was an attempt to recover a somewhat buried spirituality.

Writer Hannah Bhuiya states in her text contribution:

Nature is a tough beauty fighting the long fight against the menace of concrete, tarmac and steel tower. The mountains in this desert landscape were set solid and strong in place by Gods who have been forgotten, even though most of the original Americans who guarded them are now buried in a graveyard of nationwide dimension. Their former presence is only emphasised in their haunting absence. The hidden hills are a monument to these many millions of missing persons.

Published by Blake & Vargas in 2021.

A retrospective on the photographic work of Christian Werner, 2007–2020

Familiar faces, anonymous portraits, abandoned landscapes, animals and urban spaces – Everything So Democratic and Cool sketches an associative collage of our collective present. The images selected for the retrospective of Christian Werner’s photographic work are drawn from various series and contexts: shots from fashion shoots, commissions for magazines and private portraits, as well as personal projects. They reveal the variety of Werner’s work, and the vision of a gaze that is at once intimate and reserved. Especially in regard to recent times the images convey a striking sensation of now and seem utterly contemporary.

Published by Blake & Vargas
Full color offset print with soft cover
200 pages / 32×24 cm

A Road Trip from NYC to LA in the Mid 1970s

Leaving the Chelsea With Egg is an excerpt from the memoir of Viva Hoffmann. Her third book revolves around a road trip through the USA together with the young William Egglestone. Viva Hoffmann played in numerous films by Andy Warhol, such as Tub Girls or the controversial Blue Movie. After she began starring in films of other directors, she also began writing – her first book Superstar from 1970 was an insider’s look into Andy Warhol’s factory scene. The book features photographs by Viva Hoffmann and William Egglestone. It was edited by Garrett Nelson and published by Blake & Vargas in 2017, in a regular and a sepcial edition.

The fonts in use are the Latin glyphs included in Hiragino Kaku Gothic and Minion. The special edition additionally uses Vegas on the cover.

Cover of the special edition

Cover of the regular edition

Title page

Table of contents