B.O.T.M. - Ana Corrigan
04.02.23
Knickerbocker’s Books of the Month series makes use of books to bring you closer to friends of the brand. Each month we highlight a new individual and their selection of books.
Ana: I hold any piece about Alvin Ailey really close to my heart. Although this isn’t my absolute favorite book that exists on Ailey and the company, it’s one that is comprehensive and thorough for anyone who is unfamiliar. Growing up, my dad was the head carpenter turned technical director for AADT. I grew up touring with the company and am close with many of the dancers shown in the book, making it a really comforting and nostalgic book for me.
Ana: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency by Nan Goldin is a visual diary of photographs taken by Goldin in the late 70’s/early 80’s. Her work has always stuck with me because it’s so intimate and honest. The photos depict very human experiences in such a visceral way.
Ana: A detailed biography of one of my favorite painters, Alice Neel. She led an extremely tumultuous life, struggling with mental health, failing relationships, motherhood, etc., but managed to fuel and decorate her work with her misfortunes. Her portraits are some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.
Ana: I love this book because it’s a retrospective collection of Araki’s work that he selected himself. It’s over 500 pages of his insanely beautiful and unique imagery, including the Banquet, which is one of my favorite visual diaries of all time.
Ana: In 2020 I saw a Rottenberg exhibit at the Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen and I was blown away. Her work has a pretty strong conceptual narrative and she combines different mediums such as video, sculpture and architectural installation to explore complex human topics. Each chapter of this book covers one of the many installations of Rottenberg and also includes a biography.
Ana: I just love Louise Bourgeois so much. She’s probably one of my biggest inspirations as an artist and I think she just was one of the coolest people. This book is super comprehensive in terms of exploring her process and more specifically, her prints and books. Her work touched on human experiences like trauma, memory and the body in such unique ways. Highly recommend having this one around the house for when your brain feels like mush.
