Jasmine Carder will take you on an exploration through our backlist during her internship in a new series: Moments, which will also be shared on our Instagram @japsambooks. Below you can read her first entry, a moment in Galaxy Ballroom, A Dance With Hilma af Klint by Janice McNab.

21|02|2025

I’m excited to announce a new series: Starting this week, I will be featuring moments, or small details, within the books of the Jap Sam catalogue that have touched me and that I found especially beautiful.

This week, I will be looking at a moment in Galaxy Ballroom, A Dance With Hilma af Klint by Janice McNab.

A conversation between the work of Swedish painter Hilma af Klint and contemporary Dutch artist and writer Janice McNab, the writing in this book almost rivals the paintings themselves for vividness and depth. The book is a mixture of history, memory, and analysis that more than does justice to Klint’s body of work—the epigraph alone is enough to stop you in your tracks.

One spread that specifically caught my eye contained a photo of the oil painting The Shadow of an Animal in the Rain, part of McNab’s Our Special Gardens series, which was a response to Klint’s work. The painting depicts a shadowed hand with fingers contorted, reaching upwards in swaths of bright blue.

Aside from the breathtaking artwork, I loved the first line of the text to its left:

“Our homes are where we wrap and unwrap our actual skins, where we hope to find daily intimacy, nourishment, safety, rest.”

The book, and this spread, is a place where I feel like I can rest in the intimacy that exists between the two artists. So, in a way, these pages are their own sort of home for me.

Have a lovely weekend,
Jasmine (aka the new intern)

Galaxy Ballroom, A Dance With Hilma af Klint by Janice McNab is designed by Montse Hernández i Sala and was released in 2024

Order Galaxy Ballroom, A Dance With Hilma af Klint >>>

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