Our Books
apricota
Issue 1: 2018 | Issue 2: 2019
Editors: Andrianna Campbell and Joanna Fiduccia
Secretary Press is pleased to announce apricota, a new journal of modern and contemporary art history and criticism. apricota offers an antidote to the cool remove of many forums for art historical scholarship. It infuses its seriousness with a lively affection for the decorative, for kitsch, queerness, eccentricity, and otherness, and it seeks, like the color it names, to stand for identities and positions which are no less specific for being intermediary.
S as in Samsam
Published 2017
Co-published with Triple Canopy, we are pleased to announce the publication of S as in Samsam by Sowon Kwon. Sowon Kwon begins S as in Samsam by recounting her twenty-something cousin visiting New York City from South Korea. Having not seen the cousin since she was a girl with ribbons in her hair, Kwon wonders about the degree of formality with which to address her. She notes the importance, in Korean, of “establishing the correct amount of distance between you and another.” She goes on to ponder the coincidence of the homophony of the Korean slang term of respect and affection for teacher, Romanized as sam, and the diminutive of the name Samuel. Sam seems to crystallize the traffic between formality and intimacy, and even the touching of disparate language families.
Stone's Throw
Published April 2016
This multi-layered text by David Deitcher describes the social, political and personal context that framed the emergence of one of the most critically acclaimed artists of the late-20th century, Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Stone’s Throw attests to the importance of relationships forged throughout the most challenging years of the North American AIDS crisis, as Deitcher recounts his friendships with Gonzalez-Torres, with the activist curator Bill Olander, and the milieu to which they belonged.
Mold: Evening
Published 2016
Mold: Evening is the third in a series of three where three writers and three artists are asked to respond to one word. For Volume 3, contributors Lenka Clayton, Allen Frame, Christina Olivares, Nandita Raman, Austin Smith, and Sara VanDerBeek were invited to respond to the word evening.
Dream Closet: Meditations on Childhood Spaces
2016
Editor: Matthew Burgess
Fresh off the press is our new title Dream Closet: Meditations on Childhood Spaces edited by Matthew Burgess. Burgess, a poet, children's book author, and magical thinker, has brought together 50 writers and visual artists to respond to the topic of childhood spaces. These small spaces may be sites of solitary reverie, of privacy, of escape, of aesthetic or erotic self-discovery, of queer self-identification, of reading, of making; with each contributor interpreting the topic in their own way.
Dust: the plates of the present
Release September 15th
Editor: Sonel Breslav
Published by Secretary Press and Blonde Art Books, this is the first comprehensive book about Jo-ey Tang and Thomas Fougeirol's project Dust, the plates of the present, an ongoing residency where individuals are invited to create photograms in a darkroom on the outskirts of Paris, France. DUST: THE PLATES OF THE PRESENT is published alongside an exhibition of the archive at Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York.
I see in the sea nothing except the sea. I don't see a shore. I don't see a dove.
Published March 31 2015
Editor: Heather O'Brien
Through dialogue and reflection, an exhibition which took place at the Camera Club of New York in April 2014, I see in the sea nothing except the sea. I don't see a shore. I don't see a dove., is reconsidered. The document tells us nothing. Let's begin there. Now, what is the site? Is it here or is it there? How do we tell this story? A conscious choice is made to tell it otherwise—to mull over medial, memorial, technology dentition. That which is unseen begins to leak, and slowly we begin to see: blue, white, foam, waves. The tide is rising. Can we separate art and the way we choose to live? How do we rearrange our desires?
Published January 2015
Editors: Michi Jigarjian and Qiana Mestrich
In the first edition of HOW WE DO BOTH (2012), we asked a group of established artists to respond to three questions: How do you logistically balance art making and motherhood? Does your art making require a "room of one's own"? Did having children enhance your creativity? Some responded directly to these questions while others used the questions as an inspiration for an essay. Our aim with this second edition is not only to print more copies but to show that our community of artists is continually growing. Our hope with this second collection is to diversify further the voice of the mother artist, which at times is interpolated through a collective experience but still remains unique through the power of individual choice.
Mold: Ebb
Published May 2014
Mold: Ebb is the second in a series of three where three writers and three artists are asked to respond to one word. For Volume 2, contributors Howie Chen, Nina Katchdourian, Rafael Lemus, Lorena Marrón, Mika Tajima, and Hannah Whitaker were invited to respond to the word ebb.
Mold: Pedestal
Published December 2013
With contributors Matthew Burgess, Nancy Davenport, Chris Kraus, Adam Marnie, Nica Ross, and Laurie Weeks. Mold: Pedestal is one of three in a series where three writers and three artists are asked to respond to one word. For Volume 1 the contributors were invited to respond to the word pedestal.
Writing as Practice: Peripheral Continuity
Published September 2012
Writing as Practice is a collection of edited transcripts and afterthoughts from a symposium of the same name on writing and imagery. The event brought together writers, visual artists and curators who investigate the role of the written word in their respective artistic practices. The conversations were about the decentering of linguistics within artistic practices focusing on narrative writing and image making as a convergence and/or partnership.