What does it mean to appropriate a work?Where is the boundary between fiction and reality and where do these twooverlap? These are the complex questions photographer Sandro Miller wants toinvestigate with his work. At the same time, his photographs pay tribute togreat photographers who inspired him, gave him footing and enabled him topursue his own creative goals. Irving Penn, Patrick Demarchelier, Bert Stern,Diane Arbus and Gordon Parks have all influenced his view of the world.

Sandro Miller does not celebrate the entire oeuvres of these artists, butspecific iconic images that have left a lasting impression on him. He decidedto recreate these images with the complicity of his great friend, the actorJohn Malkovich. They engaged in a kind of role-play, but seriously because italso raises fundamental questions about the creative process and the role ofappropriation.

To stay as close to reality as possible, they stage the images with the sametools that the photographers of the originals had at their disposal. Eachpicture starts with a meticulously reconstructed setting with similar,identical or sometimes even recreated objects. This is followed by the lengthymake-up process that Malkovich patiently endures to become the original. Theshooting takes place in just a few minutes, like a kind of thrust linking themclosely. Sandro Miller achieves extremely delicate levels of perception,nuances that are almost imperceptible but still make all the difference.Ultimately, the original and the replica overlap, like two superimposedholograms, doppelgangers staring at each other.

'Malkovich - Then came John' is a special collector's edition because of itscontent and form. Never before has a screen been integrated into the cover of abook. In addition, the edition is signed by Sandro Miller and John Malkovichand comes with a specially designed steel book stand, a USB stick with fourshort films and a portrait photograph of Malkovich, taken by Sandro Miller inhonour of this project.