Kuching Diary documents eight days in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak on the island of Borneo, from 18 to 26 October 2023. The book opens with a warning from the Malaysian Meteorological Department about thunderstorms in Kuching and other areas of southern Sarawak, followed by the photographer’s first observation that, contrary to what he had been told, the city is not that quiet. Peter Bialobrzeski made the photographs and also wrote the accompanying text, so the diary entries and the images share a single authorship and chronology. The book contains 45 illustrations.
The volume belongs to Bialobrzeski’s City Diaries, a long-term project begun in 2013. Its guiding question is whether the preconception of a city, formed from prejudice, personal observation and media communication, can be transformed into a specific image. The project considers cultural differences that are increasingly hidden by globalization and makes them visible through a seemingly objectifying aesthetic. Current political and social developments also register in the images and diary entries: Cairo cannot be understood without the Arab Spring, Athens without the euro crisis, and Wolfsburg without VW and the emissions scandal. The formats and page counts of the individual titles are identical, allowing different urban settings to be viewed comparatively.
Hartmann Books publishes the English-language edition as a softcover with flaps, measuring 14 by 21 centimetres, with 96 pages and a design by Sarah Fricke of Distaff Studio. A limited edition of the book is offered. The ISBN is 978-3-96070-105-7.
