Lynn Valley 4: Annette Kelm is the fourth installment in the acclaimed artist-book series co-published by Bywater Bros. Editions and The Polygon Gallery. In this volume, Berlin-based photographer Annette Kelm presents a series of untitled photographs that fastidiously document a specific consumer item: a folding bamboo baseball hat. Purchased by the artist in New York, these hats—part western icon, part eastern traditional material—represent a strange cultural hybrid manufactured in China for the US market. Kelm documents six versions (distinguished by their seam colors) from multiple angles using a high-clarity, studio-shot format reminiscent of luxury advertising. By isolating these “interpretations” of cultural icons, Kelm’s deadpan imagery Luxuriates in surface detail while undercutting the objectivity of the document with a subtle, uncanny strangeness.
