Aikaterini Gegisian, a module leader on the MA Film Practice (Online) and MA Photography (Online) course at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB), launched her highly anticipated third photobook, Third Person (Plural), at a special event in London.
The publication, which serves as a profound feminist re-reading of the postwar Western order, garnered significant industry attention, featuring in a major interview in the March 2026 issue of the British Journal of Photography.
Following this high-profile press coverage, the book was officially launched on 24 April at the prestigious The Photographers’ Gallery in London.
A celebrated visual artist, filmmaker and researcher, Aikaterini's diverse cultural background heavily informed her expanded collage practice, which spans film, photography, installation and textile design.
Third Person (Plural) forms part of an expansive, layered trilogy ranging across a multi-screen installation, a feature-length essay collage film, and the newly released artist's book.
The entire project was rooted in an extensive archival collection of over 200 postwar US informational films and newsreels, carefully sourced from the Library of Congress and the American National Archives. Originally embarking on a quest to document early European integration processes, Aikaterini’s research evolved into a critical investigation of visual history.
“The project unfolds into an expansive feminist re-reading of the hegemonic masculine gaze and its manifestation in material images,” Aikaterini explains. “This is a bracing encounter with the gaze that produced the 'image' of the world as the new, Western order bound by the notion of a united Europe, the delirium of the Cold War and decolonisation processes.”
Structured across eight distinct chapters that directly mirror the episodes of Aikaterini’s collage film, the book translates moving archival images into still photographs. It adopts the unique visual language of the illustrated popular press, with each chapter taking the form of an individual magazine issue.
By combining film stills, text and layered imagery through diverse graphic design approaches, the book established distinct visual and conceptual rhythms. Crucially, the chapters were punctuated by "Letters to the Editor" – collaborative readings of the archival material that reflected a rich multiplicity of voices from international contemporary art curators and academics.
The finished piece transcended traditional formal boundaries, operating simultaneously as an exhibition catalogue, an academic interpretation, and a compelling standalone work of art.
Third Person (Plural) is Aikaterini’s third major photobook publication. Her first, A Small Guide to the Invisible Seas (2015), was published as part of her contribution to the Armenian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, which won the prestigious Golden Lion for Best National Participation.
Her second book, Handbook of the Spontaneous Other (2020, MACK), similarly received widespread international acclaim.
