Fabio Paleari, I Won't Give Up

nik.mercer — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:38:51 -0700

The legendary photographer, documentary film maker, and poet, Fabio Paleari, has a new monograph, I Won't Give Up, out now on D.A.P. Inc.. The collection of photographs centers around the sympathetic (or pitiful?) Pete Doherty and is quite a trip. Here's what D.A.P. has to say about the weighty book:

"Though fringe elements of Doherty’s incendiary story have been well documented by unauthorized paparazzi, the authorized, inside view has never been available until now. In I Won’t Give Up, Italian photographer and documentary filmmaker Fabio Paleari, known for capturing one of the last interviews with Allen Ginsburg before his death in 1997, follows Doherty onstage, backstage, while partying from 2004-2006 and throughout the vicissitudes of his relationship with Moss."

And here's what Fabio himself had to say:

I like how, especially in the middle, your camera strays away from Pete, focuing more on the extraneous, situational, and textural. Was this deliberate or more accidental?

No fucking accidents, mate! It's all under control―always!

I can't quite place the aesthetic of your book, and I'd say that there isn't really one unifying style applied to all the photographs. Some of the pictures look practically staged while others look completely spontaneous. Do you see the tome as having an underlying tone?

That's my style... everyday is different... and so are the photos and the people, the light, the mood... everything!

Why Pete? He gets endless attention as is, making it seem almost futile to offer another interpretation of the man.

I don't think so... you never saw Pete and his friends like you do in this book―ever... so that's why I chose Pete; I like his style and his self destruction attitude in life. I love it!

I strangely feel more sympathy for Doherty after going through the book. I love the guy and have always been a fan, but can't help feeling a little repulsed and put off by him recently. Were you trying to make him more of a sympathetic character or construct our perception of him in any specific manner?

No―everything was spontaneous; I never asked Pete to look directly in the camera... real life. That's what I love; that's my style. "Pura vida."
Pete is a great talent... very dark and maledetto... but that's why I love him.

Buy the 160-page coffee table tome here.