Rosie Harriet Ellis
The Boyfriend Casting

Book

Editor, designer and publisher of British artist and photographer Rosie Harriet Ellis’s limited edition photo-book The Boyfriend Casting.

Rosie Harriet Ellis presents her debut book, The Boyfriend Casting, a deeply intimate and daring exploration of love, consent, and objectification. As articulated by Charlotte Jansen in the foreword, it is at once “a cold, clinical, almost anatomical study of the male form,” while also revealing the personal and emotional dimensions of Ellis’ journey.

The work began after an ex-boyfriend retracted his consent to be part of a photographic project, forcing Ellis to reconsider her approach to intimacy and image-making. This act of rejection triggered a profound desire for a new partner—both romantically and creatively. Over a five-year period, Ellis used the camera as a therapeutic tool, accompanying her through a complex emotional landscape of grief, yearning, and the exploration of reversed objectification.

As a photographer capturing her lovers, Ellis’ diverse photographic styles document her coming-of-age passage. Through raw, honest imagery and diary-like reflections, The Boyfriend Casting unveils the contradictions and complexities of love, obsession, and the blurred lines between personal and artistic expression.

In this body of work, Ellis surrenders to vulnerability, embracing her role as both creator and subject in a search for personal reconciliation.

The book contains a foreword written by author and cultural journalist Charlotte Jansen as well as writings by Rosie Harriet Ellis.

29,7 cm x 24 cm (11.7" x 9.4"). 160 pages. 297 color plates. Offset printed clothbound hardcover. Linen thread bound. Authentic tip-in image on front cover. Typography on front cover, spine and back cover in peach foil. Beige headband. Special edition of 25 copies, numbered, in paperboard slipcase, screen printed in white, with signed original print.

Published by Libraryman, 2025.