G ARTS to publish ONE WOMAN | May 2018

ONE WOMAN
John Botte & Elicia Ho

With a nod to classic portraiture à la Studio Harcourt and Cecil Beaton, ONE WOMAN is an inspired collaboration between photographer and muse, from the much-praised author ofAftermath: Unseen 9/11 Photos by a New York City Cop (HarperCollins). The result is a stunning meditation on a photographer’s relationship to subject and craft, and one woman’s intimate, empowering exploration of her sense of self.

Through John Botte’s mesmerizing portraits, former ballerina Elicia Ho pays homage to the real, historical, and fictional individuals who have inspired her. In Botte’s images, Elicia evokes and embodies the facets of herself that were shaped by these figures: from her blond American mother to her Chinese aunties in traditional cheongsam, from performer and activist Josephine Baker to groundbreaking artist Georgia O’Keeffe, from feminist icon Gloria Steinem to Elicia’s feminist father, born in Shanghai in the early 1930s.

ONE WOMAN is the visual diary of Elicia’s “becoming,” offering an empowering visual and emotional transformation of her sense of self and multifaceted identity, demonstrating that we are all interconnected, able and obliged to influence one another’s story.

An invitation to celebrate the many layers of the reader’s own being, John Botte’s captivating photographs are accompanied by Elicia Ho’s insightful capsule texts about each persona portrayed. In his afterword photographer Botte details his process in making this extraordinary visual voyage. The message here—conveyed through words and images—is of the remarkable power that each of us has in shaping one’s identity. It is especially meaningful in this time of personal exploration, particularly for women in our changing and challenging social landscape.

About the authors: 
John Botte is the author of Aftermath: Unseen 9/11 Photos by a New York City Cop (HarperCollins) andJohn Botte: The 9/11 Photographs, 10th Anniversary Exhibition Folio (Morrison Gallery). Exhibited internationally, his work has also appeared frequently in Rolling Stone. Born in Port Chester, New York, he lives in Seattle, Washington, and Harrison, New York.

Elicia Ho was invited at the age of fifteen to join The School of American Ballet in New York City. A professional ballet dancer for twenty years, she now devotes her time to writing and works as a makeup artist and interior decorator. She lives in Seattle, Washington, and Harrison, New York.