In this stunning book, photographer Brian Howell takes us into the world of celebrity impersonators--the faux famous people who make a living at pretending to be someone else. Taken at various impersonator conventions and stage shows throughout North America, the photographs are both startling and poignant--for all of the frivolity and double takes (''Isn't that Paris Hilton?'') there is also a sense of the real person beneath the makeup and the artifice. Accompanying the portraits are first-person narratives by many of the subjects, many of whom feel personally close to those they are impersonating, even if they have never met them. In addition, in two essays, cultural critic Norbert Ruebsaat looks at the history of celebrity culture, and Geist magazine editor Stephen Osborne delves into the nature of photographing impersonators. As such, the book investigates the nature of fame in this era of celebrity blogs, stalkerazzi, and reality television-and how our obsession with famous people says as much about us as it does about them.

ブライアン・ハウエルが編んだ『Fame Us』は、虚飾と真実が交錯する境界線を描き出した、極めて批評性の高い一冊です。有名人の模倣者を捉えた写真は、厚い化粧の裏側に潜む「生身の人間」の孤独と渇望を浮き彫りにします。虚構を纏うことで得られるアイデンティティの在り方は、現代社会が抱える名声への執着を鋭く突き放し、見る者の倫理観を激しく揺さぶります。 被写体の独白と鋭い文化批評が織りなす構成も秀逸です。彼らが抱く「会ったこともない対象への倒錯した親密さ」を深掘りすることで、本書は深い哲学的思索へと昇華されています。スターを演じる瞳の奥に宿る、奇妙でいとおしい人間賛歌。その一瞬の煌めきは、消費される現代文化に対する、最も痛烈で情熱的な問いかけとなるでしょう。