Kate, For You

The book Kate, For You is focused on a single person, Kate. Marie Tomanova met Kate in June 2017, to take photographs in Kate’s apartment in Brooklyn, where she lived with her new kitten Cashew and her partner Odie. Until then, Tomanova only knew Kate from social media and that she was Czech living in New York City, something they both shared. She deeply identified with Kate on that afternoon and shot one 36-exposure roll of film in the bathroom, which resulted in the widely circulated image, Kate and Odie (2017).

Kate, For You offers a glimpse at Tomanova's continued work with Kate from 2017 to the present, working in the longitudinal manner of creating an extended portraiture over time. It is a meditation on the act of portraiture itself—how it evolves, how it deepens over time, and how it reflects not just the photographed, but the photographer as well. Tomanova’s work with Kate has become a touchstone for her practice, a lens through which she explores themes of identity, connection, and the passage of time. This book invites viewers into the quiet moments of their ongoing partnership, allowing them to witness how the dynamic between photographer and subject shifts and grows as years pass.

The book shows Tomanova’s experimenting with different forms and highlights her unique ability to build and maintain a sustained narrative over time. Each photograph tells a part of the larger story of Kate’s life, but also serves as a window into Tomanova’s evolving perspective as an artist.