The 15 most beautiful photo books of 2015

"You know that feeling, when you were little: that you're really happy, and suddenly the fear hits you that one of your parents will die and you'll lose all that happiness? I had that feeling last year: that death would put an end to my happiness. My own death. Or that of my husband. And I thought: if you're no longer here, your clothes remain. Personal imprints of yourself, fabrics molded to your body, carrying your scent. And someone will have to clean it all up. "That's how the idea for Collections came about: a book with photos of all my clothes. But then my husband got seriously ill. 'You have to continue with your book,' he immediately said, and so I did. I laid out all my winter clothes on the floor and photographed them one by one, from a step ladder. Compared to my previous books Monochrome and Sequences - also not very commercial - Collections is the pinnacle of an inward-directed project. Created in a year where nothing interested me anymore, except for my husband getting better. "In photography, I focus on the small everyday things we never really look at. Slices of bread. A bush in the garden. My son's toys. Call it meditation or stillness. Photography is my freedom. I do it entirely for myself and that is a great luxury. "You should exhibit more," photographer Paul Kooiker told me recently. But why? Then I have to hang up my photos and someone buys them as wall decorations which eventually lose their meaning. No, let me make books that require some effort. Books that have to find their way to the enthusiasts. I showcase them at photography fairs, give away copies as business cards. There are more and more galleries that know me, like Choisi in Lugano, and bookshops like STET in Lisbon. Recently, I heard about a couple who have Monochrome displayed on a specially purchased music stand. Every day they turn to a different page. And in the morning she says to her husband, 'What shall we do today? Black or color?'"