Eidolon Shelf represents a collaborative effort between Eidolon and one of our favourite places in Budapest: the newly reopened ISBN+ contemporary art bookstore and gallery space. This initiative showcases a monthly selection of books closely aligned with the realms of vernacular photography, banal imaging, and contemporary photographic theories. Our goal is to popularise knowledge in these specific areas through the titles that we enjoyed and have influenced our thinking in the field of everyday imaging. Each month, a featured publication takes center stage on the Eidolon Shelf at the ISBN store, alongside other carefully curated books which are available for purchase on the spot.

Celebrating Mattie’s lecture in Budapest the Eidolon Shelf moved to a new location, so read our review and buy the book in Művház!

Our recommendation for November is Mattie Colquhoun: Narcissus in Bloom: An Alternative History of the Selfie.

Mattie Colquhoun’s latest book Narcissus in Bloom: An Alternative History of the Selfie was published in August 2023 by Repeater Books and presents an alternative interpretation of the selfie, positioning it as a reflection of broader political discontent and a desire for self-transformation, rather than solely a postmodern pathology. The book tells the story of the entangled relationship between everyday imaging and capitalism, visual culture’s effect on our daily habits and mental health, and how our image making practices might affect our common future.

The author highlights the significance of narcissism’s universality, stating that “the broader reading of the term has implications for everything, from queer politics and the Black Lives Matter movement to new forms of celebrity.”

"Freud also saw narcissism as a process, rather than a fixed state of affairs. (...) When we consider our contemporary “narcissism epidemic”—the self-centeredness of capitalist individualism and the selfies that proliferate across social media—it appears that such an understanding of narcissism has been utterly evacuated. We moralize against what are arguably nothing more than products of our societal discontent, borrowing the term from psychoanalysis whilst ignoring all that has been said on the subject by philosophers and clinicians alike.”

We recommend the book to those who are ready to take a more contemplative look at photographs that we often take only fleeting looks at – because those selfies we often mark as unimportant have a more complex interpretation to them.

Publisher: Repeater Books
Year: 2023
Pages: 282
Language: English
Price: 6.850 HUF

Grab your books at Művház:
1114, Budapest, Bartók Béla út 33.
Opening Hours:
Monday to Sunday: 9 am-10pm