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Photography and text:
Stéphanie Roland
Design:
Rob van Hoesel
Lithography:
Sebastiaan Hanekroot (Colour&Books)
Production:
Jos Morree (Fine Books)
Print and binding:
Wilco Art Books (NL)
Supported by:
Mondes Nouveaux – Ministère de la Culture France, France Relance, L’Union Européenne
A phantom island is an island whose existence has been accepted for a certain period of time (sometimes centuries) and has been mentioned on maps, but which has subsequently been removed because it has been proven not to be real. There are many possible explanations for these geographical fictions: geopolitical and economic interests, cartographic copyrights, rumours, memes, hoaxes, legends, and more. These phantom islands have never physically existed, but they have had a real impact on the Western world, some even triggering conflicts or civil wars.
Six years ago, Stéphanie Roland (BE) began researching these islands during her travels and visits to geographical institutes. Over time, she has collected a great deal of material, and produced a series of experiments and works exploring this ghostly world, made up of images and videos that reflect the visual paradoxes of these entities.
Isles of Seven Cities contains the stories of Eon Island, Hy-Brasil Island, Aurora Island, Antilia, Isle of Demons, Island of California, and Podesta Island. The book is not a monograph, but rather an artist’s book – a hybrid edition that combines the visual and textual narratives of these seven ghost islands. Fictional and real archives meet in a non-linear, fragmented logic, as a meta-island emerges from the whole, questioning the complex perception of reality in a post-truth era.
Stéphanie Roland (1984) is a Brussels-based visual artist and filmmaker known for her distinctive work that blends documentary and fantasy. Her films and installations explore themes such as the invisible structures of the Western world, large timescales and hyper-objects, drawing inspiration from environmentalism, politics, geology, and the cosmos. Roland studied at La Cambre in Brussels and with Hito Steyerl at the UDK Berlin, and later completed a course at Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains in France. Her work has been shown at the Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou, Louvre, Benaki Museum, Wiels, among others. Her films, including Podesta Island and Le cercle vide, have been screened at multiple international festivals and have won awards, including the Alice Guy Prize at FID Marseille and the TËNK Award at Visions du Réel.