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Louis Quail - Big Brother

An estimated 1 in 4 of us will suffer from a mental illness during our lifetime. Those suffering have to face a wall of stigma and stereotyping which can often make their condition worse.
Big Brother is an intimate photographic portrait of Louis Quail’s older brother, Justin, and his daily struggle with schizophrenia. The condition is severe and Justin has been sectioned three times in his life. Yet, as the book shows, there is much more to him than his illness. He has interests, hobbies (painting and poetry and especially birdwatching). He also has love; he has been with his girlfriend, Jackie, for over 20 years.
By showing the person beyond the illness, Big Brother challenges stigma head on. It reveals a system in crisis; under-resourced and creaking under the weight of its own bureaucracy, but it also discovers important truths on the nature of resilience. At its heart, though, Big Brother is a love story.
The book includes extensive texts to tell Justin’s story. The complexity of his life is reflected in the complex structure of the book which incorporates a number of inserts that provide a deep insight into Justin’s world through extracts from medical reports, police records, and from his own notebooks. The book also includes many of Justin’s drawings and paintings as well as a separate booklet featuring both these and his poetry.

BIO

Louis Quail is an artist and documentary photographer exploring social and aesthetic issues. His work ‘Big Brother’, a book published in 2018 by Dewi Lewis Publishing, has received significant critical acclaim. Notably, it was shortlisted for the Arles Photo-Text Book Award 2018, Getty Wellcome Prize and was winner of the Renaissance Series Prize 2017.

His Arts Council funded solo show, ‘Before They Were Fallen’, toured the UK, and reflects an interest in aftermath; an interest which has taken him to Afghanistan, Libya, Haiti and Kosovo.

As a documentary photographer he has worked extensively for some of the UK’s best magazines; has been published internationally over many years and has twice been a finalist at the National Portrait Gallery Portraiture Award. He is held in there and the Imperial War Museum collection. He lectures, exhibits, runs workshops and makes short films to support his work.

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https://louisquail.com/shop/

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