Until one summer day in 2017, I only knew Kate from social media and that she was Czech living in New York City, something that we both shared. I deeply identified with Kate when I met her for the first time that afternoon and shot a 36-exposure roll of film of her and her then partner, Odie, in their bathtub. This resulted in the widely circulated image, Kate and Odie (2017), the cover of my first book, Young American (2019).

    Over the years, I have kept going back to this roll of images over and over because for me there is something powerful there—it is something deep, and visible, and real. I decided that this complete roll of film, in its original sequence, never seen before, should be presented as one work, First Roll, Kate and Odie (2025). To me, it stands as a powerful testament to openness and transparency as a photographer.

    The photographs in First Roll have led to a short film, Kate 2025, in which Kate looks at the photographs and discusses how she has changed as a person—her identity—since 2017, when she was 22 years old. The project, thus, forms a sort of extended portrait linking past to present and, ultimately, future.

                                                                                                —Marie Tomanova