The debut book by artist and writer PJ Harvey, in collaboration with film-maker and photographer Seamus Murphy, emerges as a one-of-a-kind collection of poetry and images
PJ Harvey has released eight critically acclaimed albums, been nominated for six Grammy Awards, and is the only artist to have been awarded the UK’s prestigious Mercury Prize twice (for her albums Stories from the City, Stories From The Sea and Let England Shake). In 2013, she was awarded an MBE for services to music. The Hollow of the Hand is her first published collection of poetry. Seamus Murphy has documented life and change around the world. He has won seven World Press Photo awards for work from Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Gaza, Lebanon, Peru, Ireland and England. His depiction of Afghanistan and the Afghans over more than a decade was published as a book, A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan.
I loved The Hollow of the Hand, a distilled fusing of poems by PJ
Harvey with photography from Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington, DC
by Seamus Murphy to make a powerful alchemy, one that broadens the
vision
*Ali Smith*
Prepare to have your conscience shaken
*Daily Telegraph*
Precision and a sense of artistry … Murphy’s photographs have an
ability to capture war without judgement … An uplifting exploration
of a brutal subject
*The Times*
Astonishing … Mesmerising … By turns harrowing, evocative, poignant
and, yes, even humorous. Ultimately, the words and pictures are
testament to undiminished human resilience … Spellbinding …
Fascinating and occasionally disturbing
*Sun*
Excellent … The imagery suggests an unhealing national bruise, one
still so tender that blood might flow at any time ... At once
celebratory and deflated … The Hollow of the Hand is a sincere and
sincerely impressive collection
*Independent*
Murphy’s stories and films illuminate Harvey’s crisply enunciated
poems as well as his own arresting images … Punchy and vivid
*Guardian*
Their combined reportage consists of a series of stark images,
lyrical and visual … Pictures of airstrike aftermaths, and Afghans
with faces like novels ****
*Evening Standard*
A well-produced collaboration. Both contain striking imagery.
Murphy – who has won seven World Press Photo awards – has an
original eye and a storyteller’s sense of an unfolding
narrative
*New Statesman Books of the Year*
This book is as handsomely produced as its subjects are in dire
straits … Heartfelt and serious … Every picture tells a story …
Murphy’s eye unites one subject with the next. He is especially
good at taking photographs of figures in a landscape overwhelmed by
the vastness. I loved the extraordinary pictures of Afghanistan’s
beautiful, hostile and seemingly endless horizons
*Observer*
The Hollow of the Hand, P. J. Harvey’s and Seamus Murphy’s book of
poems and photographs, is haunting and elusive. Lyrical, song-like,
declarative, the poems have a devastating directness; the photos
are direct in a different key
*Times Literary Supplement*
Careful reportage, combing the debris of war and strife for
significant detail, meaningful resonances ... Charts a terrifying
landscape of lost children and tidal waste, people discarded along
with syringes and stray dogs … She communicates what she’s seen
with crisp concision, a few strong charcoal lines ****
*Mojo*
A stirring art book for the rare soul who reaches back
*O Magazine*
Emphasises the resilience and continuation of life amidst immense
turmoil … Full of empathic insight and the central focus is on
“common humanity” … In her collaborations with Murphy, Harvey is
not only asking difficult questions, but pushing against the
restrictions usually placed on artists to stay within a certain
remit or medium
*Quietus*
Extraordinary … A remarkable portfolio of images shared with the
audience that, at times, have the ability to draw out the humour in
the haunting … Deeply poignant ****
*Morning Star*
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