Art Rat | PhMuseum

Art Rat is an artist's book and memoir spanning three decades between New York and Tokyo, weaving prose, photographs, poems, and aphorisms into an intimate story of love, illness, art, memory, and resilience.

Art Rat by Jörgen Axelvall

Primarily a photographer I also write.

Art Rat extends and compliments my lens-based work with prose and poetic notations.

Comprising approximately 37,000 words, Art Rat is a novella-length memoir divided into 30

chapters. Between each chapter is a two-page spread with images, generally accompanied by

a verse, epigram, maxim or poem. There are 61 images in total, of various media, including

analogue and instant films, Polaroids, and digital photography. This diverse and eclectic

selection is drawn from my extensive personal archive, compiled over the course of Art Rat’s

30-year storyline.

Art Rat, a first-person narrative, chronicles HIV infection followed by a Stage 4 cancer

diagnosis. It candidly recounts the challenges my partner and I faced with occasional humor

and blissful ignorance. The fast-paced nonfiction prose intersperses the main storyline with

nostalgic references to 1990s and 2000s New York, and beyond. Art Rat spans about three

decades, connecting my fifteen years in NYC with my current fifteen years in Tokyo.

Work on Art Rat began in 2019, after a decade of presumed successful HIV suppression

through alternative holistic treatments. This approach proved ineffective against an added

cancer diagnosis in 2020, leading to a rapid deterioration and life-threatening circumstances.

The manuscript was temporarily shelved, and with previously held beliefs in disarray, I

embraced science as the path to recovery. Four years of remission allowed me to resume

writing, and the original storyline and intent underwent a profound transformation.

Published in July 2026

Author’s Edition of 200 copies

A5 format (147x209x12 mm) soft hardback, 250 pages

Printed in Japan by LIVE ART BOOKS