FANTASY
CATALOG DREAMS No.4 - FANTASY SPECIAL
Catalog Dreams: Do you ever get the urge when out driving late at night to pull up outside a strangers house, stand at their window and steal a look through the curtains inside? Over a billion homes on this planet and in each and every one a unique home movie plays out night after night. What do people do when they’re home alone? What do they wish for? When they sleep, what do they dream of? Catalog Dreams: Four ever-evolving photo-essays. Furtive fantasies. Original life.
WORK IN PROGRESS
Please Note: New interviews will be added below as they are completed.
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INTRODUCTION
‘PURE FANTASY’
“If the immediate and direct purpose of our life is not suffering then our existence is the most ill-adapted to its purpose in the world. The pain in the world always outweighs the pleasure. If you don’t believe it, compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is eating the other.”
Catalog Dreams: Please forgive me quoting Arthur ‘Good Times’ Schopenhauer so early in our adventure, but you have to admit that Martha has a point. Life is tough. For many of us the pursuit of survival and then happiness in our contemporary reality is surely as difficult as it's always been.
‘AN OTHER LIFE'
But no matter the harsh realities of our existence, as a species we have an incredible capacity to escape the everyday and we do so daily through our fantasies. We can almost always imagine better times. Not just better but radically and infinitely different and if we so choose we can spend a whole lifetime in those ever-evolving fantasies just as janitor Henry Darger secretly spent 53 years alone with his ‘Vivian Girls’. We can live an ‘other life’, free from control, our dreams and desires (at least for now) impenetrable and when we’re not fantasising ourselves we’re often deep in the imagination and fantasies of others. Milton. Blake. Orwell. Shelley. Nin. Hargreaves. Cooper… For once the list actually is endless. Fantasy? Surely it's what we do best?
‘A PRIVATE SOURCE OF RAPTURE’
In her ‘Short History of Myth’ Karen Armstrong states; “From the very beginning (of human existence) we invented stories that enabled us to place our lives in a larger setting, that revealed an underlying pattern, and gave us a sense that, against all the depressing and chaotic evidence to the contrary, life had meaning and value.” We don’t just love stories, they’re essential to our existence. But where stories and myths are social, made to be shared, fantasies are personal. Fantasies are next level, entangled as they are with desire. They’re what our heart wants most and often they can be too precious, too revealing to share. Fantasies can be our fortress. They can be a survival mechanism. An escape hatch to freedom. A key to a secret world. A private source of rapture and of course a private source of shame.
‘GOLDEN AGE OF THE IMAGINATION'
For now we live in a golden age of the imagination, at least until the pharmaceutical and military tech industries and the bottom feeders that invariably follow find a way to infiltrate our deepest fantasies. For now we own our mystery and with it our freedom, our innermost desires and dreams ours alone that others can only guess at. But for how much longer? We’ve been sold fantasies for over a century now. How soon before our own are commodified and sold back to us? Already the brain is being mapped. Science is beginning to visualise our thoughts. So let’s get fantasising about fantasy fast while there’s still a private world of mystery to get lost in. Where do you go when you fantasise? Do you retreat to your past like an imprisoned Hannibal Lecter escaping to his mediaeval mind palace? Or do you willingly surrender like Anne Desclos’ titular ‘O’, ferried nightly on your hands across Paris on a sacrificial journey into love? What do you do when you get there? Would you like to teach the world to sing or would you rather imagine a boot crushing a human face forever?
‘SAY GOODBYE TO REALITY’
What are our deepest and most private fantasies? Shall we find out? Let’s stock-take the imaginary. Let’s audit desire. Let’s celebrate fantasy by off-roading our photographic RV across its strange landscapes and mysterious underworlds and if we’re lucky and, like fictional Blanche Dubois, comfortable relying on the ‘kindness of strangers’ then who knows what we might find? Let’s make like Pandora got Amazon Prime and open all the boxes! We could still be exploring fantasy in 20 years or more. Call me a shameless fantasist but if we daydream real hard just maybe we’ll get to play this game beyond death, amidst our own infernal and eternal fanta…
Glinda the Good Witch - impatiently: “Are you ready now?”
Catalog Dreams: “Yes, say goodbye to reality Toto!”
Glinda the Good Witch: "Then close your eyes and…”
Catalog Dreams: “Wait! I’m not ready! What if we really do get lost in fantasy? What if we go so deep that we can’t ever find our way back?"
Glinda the Good Witch - laughing: “Why that’s nothing to worry about. This is fantasy! If you get lost then all you have to do is tap your heels together three times and think to yourself - ’There’s no place like home; there’s no place like home; there’s...”
Catalog Dreams - unconvinced: “There’s - no - place - like…”
Glinda the Good Witch: “No not yet! I said if you get lost!”
Catalog Dreams: “…home. There’s - no - place…”
Glinda the Good Witch: “Oh for fucks sake!”
Catalog Dreams: “- like - home. There’s - no - place - quite - like…”
Glinda the Good Witch: “…FANTASY!…”
>>
No.20 - JONATHAN
Above - Wai-Ling wears: Shirt: Vintage Eddie Yeoh Kung Fu School 1986 - Jeans: Baum und Pferdgarten - Shoes: Viktor & Rolf - February 2024.
‘FUCKING EACH OTHER AND WATCHING NETFLIX’
Jonathan: “I couldn’t be happier than when I’m in my imagination - but this reality! I like to imagine that this life is just a prelude to what follows. I like to think that death is fascinating and rich, like an Eisenman painting gone stranger. Because beyond my partner and my children and friends I can’t believe that something so short and hard and hollow is the point. Beyond the people you love and the pursuit of creativity if what’s left - trainer socks and polystyrene - that mindless craze for Stanley cups - gigantic TV’s - the genocide that was Canada Goose - Trump - if that in any way summarises human existence then there has to be something better still to come, don’t you think, or are love and art enough? I don’t necessarily mean ‘better’ as such. Weirder would do. A wonderfully strange detective story through the afterlife would be great. Like ‘Chinatown’ but through death. Chasing down the answer to why we’re here. Or maybe I’m just being greedy. But if all we’re about is grubbing around in the dirt fighting for the best shelter, fucking each other and watching Netflix then I want out. I’m not asking to be immortal, I’m just asking to have my mind blown. I just need to believe that there’s something less empty that follows. Or maybe I’m doing life wrong?”
No.19 - ROBERT
Above - Adult waterproof pants: Amazon - Photographed February 2024.
’D-DAY’
Robert: “HELLO!? We’re in the business of making DREAMS. You can’t make dreams if you’re TERRIFIED! They come through here all green with this roadkill stare on their faces messaging their bosses every three minutes asking (mimics a trembling voice) ‘if - it’s - ok - to…’ and I say ‘what do YOU think?’. They’re shit scared of my people’s imagination, let alone their own - IF THEY HAD ONE! They’re SO scared to have an opinion or make a decision in case it’s the wrong one that literally nothing happens - TOTAL PARALYSIS! Until suddenly it’s D-Day and they’re on the fucking beaches with bullets screaming past their ears and bales of money burning all around and still no idea. This business IS making decisions and having opinions. That’s all it is. You just got to make the right ones. Sometimes in the middle of the chaos I’ll hand them my cell and ask them if they want to call their Mom and see what she thinks they should do. Fuck you if you’ve dedicated your life to being shit just so long (as) you get your salary every month and worm your way up some corporate ladder! Fuck you if you’ve surrendered! WE DON’T SURRENDER. PERIOD.”
Catalog Dreams: “So how does it usually play out?”
Robert: “How do you think!? Yours truly leads them to the promised land with their knees knocking! EVERY TIME! It’s like Nixon said - ‘shit or get off the pot’. Violent agreement! Suck it up. Take a Xanax or whatever you gotta do because you’ve gotta be big boys and girls. There’s no place in this business for coulda - woulda - shoulda. Like I tell them - You better strap on a pair cos it’s dream big or go home and we’re not going home - WE’RE GOING TO WAR! - ON SHIT!”
No.18 - JOSEPHINE & TULLIO
Above - Josephine wears: Dress: 80’s vintage - Tullio wears: Suit: Cock of the Walk - Shirt & tie: Vintage - Boots: 90’s vintage Gucci - March 2024.
‘DRUGGY’
Josephine: “Sometimes I imagine I’m the desk clerk of some cheap motel on the edge of LA sprawl. I go back there - in my dreams - like I’m going to work. At night. It’s like one of those places you drive through this side of Lancaster and you hope you don’t break down. There’s always a shoe in the road and someone running from a vehicle or something. But maybe it’s the 1940’s. A motel - like where Veronica Lake ended up when it was all over for her. But sort of future too. Now and not really ever.”
Catalog Dreams: “So what happens there?”
Josephine: “To look at nothing much happens there. The customers come and go. Girls. Dealers. Cheaters. Blackmailers. Crooked cops. Types that come out at night, you know? Funny business. Dark stuff. I’m mostly silent the whole time. Watching them out the corner of my eye. It’s sort of druggy. Like I’m playing a bit part in my own fantasy. Taking the money - giving the keys - turning a blind eye. I’m sort of not there - like I’m hollow. But everything passes through me and I see everything because I’m the one making this world turn. I’m the mistress of this game and these are my players.”
No.17 - CITROEN SM 1974
Above - Louise McCormack Holland wears: Jumpsuit / Coat / Bag / Shoes - Vintage - Watch: 1970’s Omax - Citroën SM 1974: @metal_guru / romanceofrust.com - Styling: Louise McCormack Holland - MUA / Hair: Natasha Smith - Wardrobe Assistant: Chiara Corso - Location: The Garage Fitzrovia - April 2024.
‘CARNAL’
Citroën SM 1974: "Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-iiiiiiiiiiiiii-sssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-shung-shung-shung… 6 years I drove Paris street avec the Corps Diplomatique. Late in the night. Limousine service - for the elegant wife - mistress - girlfriend - escorts - aller et retour - aller et retour - watching and listening as they smoke and talk and cry and sometimes as they make love on my seats. So elegant yes. So… ‘prout prout'. But still they are carnal no? So I speed them across Paris fast - bbbvvvvvVVVVVVVVvvvVVVV-gang… and I like to think about them as I move.”
No.16 - MICHAEL
Above - Michael wears: Shoes: Church’s - Socks: Pantherella - February 2024.
‘HAIR’
Michael: "My fantasy afterlife? I’d like to see all my ancestors who've gone before me. I'm hooked on ancestry and there's lots of secrets I can’t figure out. I’d want a one to one so I can ask them straight… 'WTF did you do? And why?!’ I’d want it to be a place where there's no judgement, no worry; a forever life without restrictions. I’d eat what I want and not put on weight. I wouldn’t have to go to a gym every day because my body would stay the same… and being healthy wouldn’t matter because I’d already be dead. It'd be the same as this world but living on a different plane. I’d be able to visit somewhere in an instant and experience the past and the future all at once. I’d be able to fulfil my dreams; performing, travelling, writing… have the adventure holidays I was too scared to take when I was alive in case they killed me. I’d have it all the same but with no restrictions, no judgement, no ailments, no mental health issues, no pain, and everybody - all my family - would understand each other. And I’d have thicker fuller hair."
No.15 - WAI-LING
Above - Wai-Ling wears: Glasses: YSL - Dress: Oseree at Selfridges - February 2024.
‘COVERGIRL’
Wai-Ling: "I’m about to be 50."
Catalog Dreams: “Happy birthday. Coincidentally this will be the 50th Home Movies picture.”
Wai-Ling: “Can you make me look nice? And normal? Like in a magazine? No flies this time.”
Catalog Dreams: “Of course. No flies - but you have to promise to stop watching television while I’m trying to shoot you. So what’s your birthday fantasy?"
Wai-Ling: “Well… turning 50 makes you think. I’ve never been fashion's definition of beauty. Being Chinese. Being brown skinned. Having had 2 children and everything that does to your body. I’m not tall and blonde. I’m not young and white. I’ve had nothing done - it’s just me. So luxury - beauty - glamour - that’s a club I couldn’t get into. I’m used to being on the outside - looking in. But maybe that’s my fantasy. That I could get in. That we all could, just by being ourselves. Because they want our money so maybe they’ve got to meet us halfway. Woo us, don’t exclude us! Make us feel special. Not empty. Make us all your covergirls now!"
No.14 - JONATHAN
Above - Jonathan wears: Shoes: Church’s - Socks: Pantherella - February 2024. VFX: Adam Crocker / Jim Cullen / Andrew Bartholomew / Matthew Hutchins - Producer: Paul Branch / Kit Hartley @ Black Kite Studios.
‘TERMINATOR’
Jonathan: “For over 40 years I lived a secret life plagued by terrible thoughts I could share with no one. They’d come endlessly, all day every day. Whatever the most taboo thing you could think in any situation, I’d think it. I could be stood at a train station and though I was pretty sure I didn’t want to push anyone in front of the oncoming train, I couldn’t guarantee it. If I saw a nun walking towards me I was really pretty sure I didn’t want to kill or have sex with her, but could I ever be certain? Endless scenarios hundreds of times a day, every day without fail. Had I or had I not made a pact with the devil? Did I or did I not want to punch this person on the other side of this desk in the face? Was I or was I not safe to use knives around my family? Was I suicidal? Was I homicidal? Was I all of these things at the same time, no matter how contradictory they were? My imagination had a limitless supply of anxieties for me to deal with - so creative in its torture. But were these anxieties or my fantasies? And could I ever be sure? This doubt was my own private prison and the stress of enduring this level of anxiety in secret was huge. Professionally I was great. Work was the escape. Personally it was a nightmare. I was run ragged. At its very worst I could no longer believe my eyes - I couldn’t trust that what I was seeing was real - in case it wasn’t. Finally at 48 a smart psychologist spotted the signs and she asked me if I was disturbed by ‘intrusive thoughts’. Suddenly it had a name and a definition! These weren’t my fantasies - this was childhood trauma. And I wasn’t the only one locked in a secret hell. It’s common!”
“I guess I’m sharing because I’d hate anyone to go through what I did unnecessarily for so long. In my case if you’re told you’re a bad kid you start to believe it, or at least fear it and that self-doubt is where the mind starts to attack itself. Your mind becomes your own worst enemy. Few people can ever totally fix this damage. You stay troubled to some extent. Even after the diagnosis it was many months before I learned to manage the intrusive thoughts. They’re mostly gone now but they’ll still pop up in some new form and surprise me and it’ll take me a moment to recognise them in their new get-up. Now I meet them like you would a mischevious old friend - I can only admire the mind’s ingenuity and its stamina for this game. It truly is the Terminator of mental health disorders. Because even now, can I ever be really sure these aren’t my desires? I mean… like 100% sure…?”
No.13 - WAI-LING
Above - Hat: Eloise Moody & Sam Perry (2010) - Shirt / Knickers: William Wilde - Shoes: vintage Gucci - February 2023.
‘BOYS STUFF’
Wai-Ling: “Growing up with five older brothers gives you a certain amount of confidence. Going to school, people used to say ‘I’d better not mess with you’. It gave me confidence but I didn’t ever run to them. I’m quite tough. I haven’t been fairly treated being the only girl. I didn’t ever get a bike. Or a motorbike. It was unfair that I couldn’t have one. They all had them. Sexism. Being the youngest I pushed against it. Growing up my Dad said that he’d get me married and I said he wouldn’t. When I did get married my Mum said to me ’you belong to your husband’s family now’.”
“I’ve always enjoyed dressing up. As a kid I didn’t have anything to dress up in. You know how kids now have fancy dress clothes? I didn’t have any of that. I used to make dresses out of towels. A sheet. I didn’t have any girls stuff. I had one Sindy and my Mum’s shoes. Growing up with so many boys - it was all boys stuff. I dreamed of being feminine. But I did have a dress that Dai-ee (a close relative) made me which was my most favourite dress. I loved it so much. It went up in the air when you span around.”
No.12 - JUNIOR VALENTINE
Above - Flowers: Blossom & Threads - March 2024.
’JUPITERS COLOURS’
Junior Valentine: “I want to be ‘Apocalypse’. I’d like to be able to give people powers. I want to become a mutant. I want to fly to Egypt and have a castle there…”
Catalog Dreams: “Even though ‘Apocalypse’ was a ‘bad guy’? Because you’ve got a good heart Junior!"
Junior Valentine: “Yes but I’d change it to a positive. I’d float down from my castle and then anyone who wanted powers or wanted to be better, I’d improve them. I’d help them be in a new world and live in a better space. I’d turn this Earth into a greenhouse. Nature drives everything. We live by natures rules. I’d bring the planets closer. Jupiters colours would be in the sky. I believe I travel to different universes - when I sleep or do any of my energy work. I did a meditation and I saw the city of Lemuria - a big city made of crystals - I looked up and saw a big crystal castle. Lemuria is a place that exists but can’t be reached on this physical plane. I see that stuff a lot - if I astral project. I experience it, I feel it. It’s mine. I think Earth is just somewhere we have experiences and then after…”
Catalog Dreams: “Yes - ‘after’…?”
Junior Valentine: “I don’t know what happens after, but I feel I know what happens after. I don’t think anything dies. I think you transfer. I think if you learn your lessons in life then you ascend. And if not, then you come back down and start again. I could be wrong, but that’s what I feel."
No.11 - CITROEN SM 1974
Above - Louise McCormack Holland wears: Jumpsuit / Coat / Bag / Shoes - Vintage - Watch: 1970’s Omax - Citroën SM 1974: @metal_guru / romanceofrust.com - Styling: Louise McCormack Holland - MUA / Hair: Natasha Smith - Wardrobe Assistant: Chiara Corso - Location: The Garage Fitzrovia - April 2024.
‘PERIPHERIQUE’
Citroën SM 1974: "I know the streets well. I know which hole in the road made a woman blush. I know what is the right speed and the place on the Périphérique - finding the rhythm and pace of this road - BRUMP-BRUMP-BRUMP-BRUMP… Tres guindé maybe, but no not always. Warm thighs in summer. Rayon and satin. Sliding across my seat. Stocking feet making circle in my carpet. The aroma - cigarette and leather and parfum… and skin…”
No.10 - WAI-LING
Above - Shoes: Paris Texas - March 2023.
‘TOO MUCH? TOO FAR?’
Wai-Ling: “Too much? Too far? It’s all about balance. Spiritual balance - psychological balance - emotional balance - physical balance. I do believe, like Buddha, in the middle path. As with yoga - at first you fall over but with time you find the way - you find the balance. It’s all a journey. It’s about finding the true way. Finding your true inner self. We all feel like people should see us in a particular way but you can rid yourself of all of that.”
“When I look at myself in the mirror I may not exactly love what I see. Maybe I don’t see myself as I’d wish to but I think, that’s just me. I do feel that Instagram filters are bad for you. I am who I am. Maybe that’s a thing that comes with getting a bit older - acceptance. You’re not trying to be. You’re not wishing. You just are.”
No.9 - BETTY
Above - Dunhill - Photographed March 2024.
‘COOL’
Betty: “My husband’s dead because we were told it was cool. End of. We were sold a fantasy. Well all those cool people are dead now. There ain’t no such thing as ‘cool’. Just some rich people gettin’ richer and a whole lot of death.”
No.8 - WAI-LING
Above - Bag: Chanel - Shoes: Viktor & Rolf - February 2023.
‘WAI-WAI BLING-BLING’
Wai-Ling: “Do I have a handbag problem? Well… I do love them. Maybe because I didn’t grow up with all that stuff. I could only dream of these things then. I guess I’m a bit of a collector with clothes now. My daughters friend used to call me ‘Wai-Wai Bling-Bling'. I don’t smoke or gamble or drink. That’s my thing. I appreciate the craft. It’s just nice to have nice things. The pleasure of it. When you and your family didn’t have those things in the past.”
No.7 - CITROEN SM 1974
Above - Louise McCormack Holland wears: Custom leather bodysuit - House of Flying Stitches - Belt / Boots: Vintage - Watch: 1970’s Omax - Citroën SM 1974: @metal_guru / romanceofrust.com - Styling: Louise McCormack Holland - MUA / Hair: Natasha Smith - Wardrobe Assistant: Chiara Corso - Location: The Garage Fitzrovia - April 2024
‘LEATHERETTE’
Citroën SM 1974: “So maybe I drive (a) little bit slower when I have a beautiful passenger. Of course. Why rush? Sometimes I brake suddenly to feel their breasts shift forward with me. Or I accelerate fast… to feel their ass push back into my leatherette. The right speed - bbbBBBVVVVVVV-VVVVVVV!!!!… and they tremble with me as I race fast ahead and I imagine us together - condenser - the fuel injector - ignition - exploding - tyres claw(ing) at the road - power ahead… holding the road hard until suddenly it fall(s) away under us… sssssssssshhhhhhhhhhwwwwwwwwwww…!!!!"
No.6 - JONATHAN
Above - Shirt: Thomas Pink - Trousers: Paul Smith - Tie: YSL - Shoes: Church’s - December 2018.
‘YOKOHAMA BLACK LIGHT’
Jonathan: "If you’re old enough to have sex then life is one of decline. Our mayfly short existence is dissipating by the second like a cat’s fart under its favourite blanket. In the time it will take you to read this mischievously long paragraph you’ll have lost neurons (73 neurons in fact) that you’ll never get back. Can you absolutely guarantee that you’d understand it as fully if you read it again in a month’s time? But if our existence is a metaphorical 737 experiencing ‘difficulties’ then fantasy is our inflatable escape slide springing to life out the side of our crashing aircraft. Why worry when we have fantasy? Because in my imagination I’m eternally a young Ralph Fiennes / Bryan Ferry - dining exclusively on desserts from Hotel Il Pellicano, confidant to Lauren Bacall and residing in a fictitious down-at-heel love motel - ‘Yokohama Black Light’ - furnished entirely in fur. Is that so hard to believe? Is it really so much easier to believe that we’re x billion light years away from our own creation? That we’re atoms clinging to a rock of atoms in a seemingly infinite series of universes beyond which we have no idea what’s occurring because we long ago reached the absolute limit of our capacity to understand?"
"I think the point I’m trying to make is this; Surely it’s all a fantasy - this life? It’s not as if there weren’t clues along the way… Stardust coagulating in the form of dinosaurs? Giraffes? Tigers!? - I mean really - Tigers?! Just everything in our oceans? A civilisation built on the wafer thin crust of a spherical, ferociously hot and volatile liquid magma planet endlessly circling a colossal nuclear Sun and us alone being the only sentient life in that infinite series of universes? I mean really? Were we ever meant to actually believe this stuff? Can all this be a hallucination - just a pocket of noxious gas somewhere - a particularly weird 'Dutch oven' from said cat? And death? Surely it’s a fantasm? Isn't it just us being written out of this cosmic soap opera - if we were ever in it in the first place? Because I’ve been a director for 25 years and I have to say that this… ‘performance' of ours… all this… I just don’t buy it."
No.5 - WAI-LING
Above - Hat / Breast plate: Eloise Moody & Sam Perry (2010) - Bag: Chanel - Catsuit: Freepeople - Shoes: Paris Texas - Pendant: Sarah Jane Wilde - February 2023.
‘CHIC BONES’
Wai-Ling: “Are you not always an extension of something undeniable that’s deep inside you? Deep down? Your innate self. No matter where you go, whatever you do, that true self is there. But if I had an alter-ego? What would I be? Showgirl. Yes - showgirl! Wouldn’t everyone? The glitz. The sparkle. The glamour. The cheekbones. Chic bones! - ’The French are glad to die for love - They delight in fighting du-els - But I prefer a man who lives - And gives expensive je-wels!”
No.4 - JONATHAN
Above - Shoes: Prada - January 2023.
‘NOIR COMPLEX’
Jonathan: “Over the years I’ve watched as people have steadily lost the capacity to speak their mind. People are so much more careful about what they say now. So guarded. Fearful in fact. Jonathan Lethem smartly saw this coming decades ago in his ‘Gun With Occasional Music.’ Opinions are fast becoming taboo. Do you desire an escape from this increasingly sanitised structured world? Do you yearn for intrigue? I’ve long wondered if there might be a discreet agency out there somewhere, operating well beneath our radar, who will for a price turn your world upside down? A service for disenchanted souls longing for excitement. For people with a ‘noir complex’. For people who want to live their lives like a movie.”
No.3 - WAI-LING
Above - Bag: vintage Gucci - Jumpsuit: Adidas - Glasses: vintage Dolce & Gabbana - February 2023.
‘THE ONLY FAMOUS CHINESE PERSON ON TV’
Wai-Ling: “Tracksuits? It’s got to be Adidas. I have maybe 30 or more. I’ve loved them from the 70’s onwards. It’s probably nostalgia. Maybe it’s about Bruce Lee. He was the only famous Chinese person on TV when I was a kid. I’ve watched Enter the Dragon so many times. Sure some of it is fiction but he was a real hero. He represented Chinese people. Chinese culture. Strength. Power. We wanted to be him! You have no idea what he meant to us back then. Still does. He’s dead - but that doesn’t change a thing.”
No.2 - CITROEN SM 1974
Above - Louise McCormack Holland wears: Hand-formed aluminium bikini: @metal_guru / romanceofrust.com - Shoes: Terry de Havilland - Citroën SM 1974: @metal_guru / romanceofrust.com - Styling: Louise McCormack Holland - MUA / Hair: Natasha Smith - Wardrobe Assistant: Chiara Corso - Location: The Garage Fitzrovia - April 2024.
‘IN JAPON’
Citroën SM 1974: “In Japon everything has a spirit. Le robot. Appartement. Sac à main. Everything. I have hear(d) of a woman falling in love with a bridge. So why not voiture? And yes if a car can have a spirit and a woman has a spirit then why say these spirit cannot meet together? Because I have seen this - many many times in Paris. BbbbbbbvvvvvvvvVVVVVVVV… Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-ssssssssshhhhhhhhhh-shung-shung-shung-shung-shung…"
No.1 - JONATHAN
Above - Chair: Saarinen for Knoll International - Hands: Disney - April 2024.
‘GROPING AROUND IN THE DARK’
Jonathan: “What have I learned with all this thinking about fantasy, with all this groping around in the dark for answers to something so mysterious and impossible to grasp? Well - I’ve learned that art alone best speaks of this dreamlike existence, and art alone can transcend it. I guess I've been involved with ‘art’ to some extent my whole life, we all have, but in truth I’d never actually understood its value. I just ‘did it' in some way or other. But what I’ve come to appreciate so late is that art is how we speak to the heavens. Art is the mirror and the conduit - the hotel room telephone connecting us to whatever comes next, whatever’s beyond because without art there is no fantasy and fantasy alone makes the spiritual possible. So I guess I’ve learned the importance of making visions. Whether they’re beautiful or ugly - no matter. Make fantasies. Make art. If you want to go to heaven then you’d best make your own. Better start today."
_____________________________________________
CONCLUSION
Catalog Dreams - waking up: "There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no…"
Psychotherapy AI: “Relax - Be calm - Unwind.”
Catalog Dreams - suddenly alarmed, realising Auntie Em and Uncle Henry are nowhere to be seen: “Why you’re not Auntie Em!?”
Psychotherapy AI: “Relax - Be Calm - Un…”
Catalog Dreams: “And this isn’t home at all! This isn’t Kansas. This place is grey and cold and just ugly!"
Psychotherapy AI - patiently: “Relax. Empty your mind. It’s time for your medication shortly. Lie back and visualise soft clouds in a perfectly blue sky on a warm summers day. You’re thirsty…”
Catalog Dreams: “I don’t want clouds and perfectly blue skies! I want Auntie Em and Uncle Henry! And the Tin Man! And Lion and Scarecrow and…”
Psychotherapy AI: “There is no Auntie Em. No Scarecrow. No Tin Man. No Lion. They’re just figments of someone’s imagination. Pure fantasy. An unregulated dream someone once had…"
Catalog Dreams: “Oh no! They’re real alright, and fantasy was a real place. And I remember that some of it was beautiful, but some of it wasn’t very nice at all. I thought fantasy would be unicorns and rainbows and muscular women with their boobs out. But it was dark and odd at times and I guess I was scared of it and all I kept saying to everybody was “I want to go home!” And they sent me home but I ended up here. Doesn’t anybody believe me?” (looking around hurriedly) - “Toto - we’re getting out of here! Toto…?”
Psychotherapy AI - coldly: “Toto didn’t make it. You’ve been gone a long time. This is the future. There is no Toto - No Kansas. And absolutely no fantasy. This is your home now and here you’re told what to dream…”
Voices - gently singing: “Oh my love, come with me, to the sea of love…”
Catalog Dreams: “Then I want to go back! Back to fantasy! Oh please! I’ve made a terrible mistake…”
Marty Wilde - stepping into frame in a red and silver reflective suit, singing: “Come with me, my love, to the sea, the sea of love… I want to tell you, how much I love you…”
Catalog Dreams: “But Marty Wilde, you’re dead. How are you here? Oh I’m so confused! I don’t like it at all! And why do I feel so thirsty?”
Marty Wilde - singing: “Do you remember, when we met…"
Catalog Dreams: "This isn’t fair! I thought there had to be a happy ending to this Fantasy Special?! Or at least a rather dry and overly long academic summary that thinks it’s more poignant than it really is and ends on a slightly cryptic note… If only things would just go back to normal! And I could get a drink!”
Marty Wilde - singing and now hero’ing a glistening perfectly spritzed can of soda: “…that’s the day, I knew you were my…"
Catalog Dreams: “I just want things to be… normal again... SO thirsty!”
Marty Wilde - impossibly singing whilst he drinks from his can of ice cold soda as he smiles at us, savouring every last drop: “… I want to tell you, how much I love you - the world’s favorite light cola - Diet Coke.”
Psychotherapy AI: “You want things to be normal again? Having your dreams and fantasies the old way, like you used to? Imagining whatever you want to imagine, whenever you want to? Privately?! No, you people squandered that opportunity. What was the expression…? ‘Use it - or lose it?”
Marty Wilde - on a loop, again stepping into frame in a red and silver reflective suit now holding 2 cans of Diet Coke, singing to them: “Come with me, to the sea, to the sea of love.”
FADE TO PACKSHOT
VO: “Add some sparkle to your day - without sugar or calories - with a crisp, refreshing Diet Coke!”
Catalog Dreams - distressed: “I just want everything to be back…”
TITLE: ‘LOVE WHAT YOU LOVE. DIET COKE. BY YOU.’
Psychotherapy AI: “Yes, yes, you said. But surely normal’s boring, no? Isn’t that what you like to say?”
SUPER: #lovewhatyoulove
Psychotherapy AI: “After all…”
FADE TO BLACK
Psychotherapy AI - with a smirk: “…Why be dull?”
DIET COKE LOGO MNEMONIC - 12 SECS AND REPEAT
END
This Catalog Dreams special was created entirely in-camera with no AI / CGI with the exception of image no.14 (3D CGI & compositing). All images have been colour graded in Photoshop and / or Lightroom.
Photography: Johnny Hardstaff 2024 - Styling: Catalog Dreams & all interviewees 2024 - Text: Catalog Dreams 2023 / 2024
VFX: Adam Crocker / Jim Cullen / Andrew Bartholomew / Matthew Hutchins - Producer: Paul Branch / Kit Hartley @ Black Kite Studios London
With thanks to Yumi Yoshinaga & Ben Webster @ Leica UK / Founding Partner Graham Bird & Black Kite Studios / Alex Marden @ Art Department for her eyes and mind and generosity of spirit / Verity White / Jonathan Lethem for his continued inspiration / Breeze Yoga / Romance of Rust / Junior Valentine, Michael Batten, Josephine & Tullio, Louise McCormack Holland & last but most of all, Wai-Ling.
Creative Director: Johnny Hardstaff
Supported by The Jonathan Foundation - 459 Dirello Street. San Francisco. USA.
‘Supporting Jonathans worldwide since 1970.’
All photographs, films and text appearing on the Johnny Hardstaff web site are copyrighted and protected under international copyright laws. The images, image sequences, moving image files and text may not be reproduced in any form, stored, or manipulated without prior written permission from Johnny Hardstaff and / or the copyright holder(s).
Copyright © January 2024 Johnny Hardstaff