What if Jeff were a Butterfly? by Jeff Mermelstein

Jeff Mermelstein has spent decades photographing life on the streets of New York. In this book, he turns the camera inward, beginning with flowers: perhaps the most photographed subject in history, and possibly the most avoided (for that very reason).

This book was born from over two hundred images of flowers—an unexpected output for Jeff Mermelstein has been making photographs on the streets of New York for decades. Mermelstein brought the photographs to Void with the idea of making them into a book. During discussions, Mermelstein’s compulsion to photograph flowers was likened to the predilections of a butterfly. The book’s title and content evolved both from this idea and the recognition of the similarity between the behaviour of winged insects and those who photograph on the street. Both moving quickly and erratically from one attractive thing to the next, albeit from street corner to street corner or from flower to flower. The quickness of observing, landing, and leaving.

“I've dug into my archive boxes to make a collage, a timeline that's not a line. Here's more of my story, including pictures and dangling words to help convey an urgent sense of searching for surprise. Family roots permeate and brighten the weave. New flower pictures hold the balance with beauty. My wish is that this book is not finished.” — Jeff Mermelstein

Over the course of a year, Mermelstein mined his personal archives. He searched for lost materials and unearthed old, unpublished photographs to visually represent this butterfly-like behaviour. He found small, quiet, previously overlooked moments in images which could collectively accumulate meaning. He gathered images of flowers photographed on the hoof, pages from old journals, ancient snapshots of family, iPhone photos of thoughts, memories and passing ideas—all rough, spontaneous and preserved without editing. The creation of the book became a playful collaboration, constructing a metaphorical shoebox of re-found discoveries to form Mermelstein’s first introspective body of work, a portal to his inner life.

Mermelstein’s photographs are known for being fast, funny and sharp—a reputation built from nearly 50 years of photographing on the street. He notices things that most people overlook and captures these fleeting moments. The works in the book are sequenced and paired with no discernible hierarchy nor narrative to echo Mermelstein’s sharp humour with both similarities and juxtapositions of colour, form and composition.