you would

you would is a photobook by Matthias Hamann, built from walks through New York and Berlin and pairing his photographs of the two cities with staged portraits of people in the queer scene.

Spector Books says the title comes from graffiti Hamann photographed on a wheelie bin in New York, and that the phrase can be read as a challenge, an invitation or an instruction to anyone who steps in front of the camera. It describes his approach as diaristic, with intimate moments and poses from a social circle that takes an alternative view of life.

Spector published the 122-page book in Leipzig, saddle-stitched with a dust jacket and 110 colour photographs. Markus Dreßen designed it, and the text is in English and German. Spector had earlier issued Hamann’s Rauschen (2009), a folded newspaper of colour photographs of people in parks and private spaces.