Slow → articles in Photography

IN DE OOST

by Milan van Dril

Milan van Dril's IN DE OOST will be one of our favorite publications of 2021. The project with behind the scenes photography was released as part of the extensive campaign for the polarizing Dutch war movie De Oost (The East). A first of its kind, in the tradition of the great American anti-war films, De Oost portrays the 1945 - 1949 Indonesian War of Independence through the eyes of a disillusioned Dutch soldier. A subject matter that hadn't made it to the Dutch cinemas yet, because it ended 350 years of Dutch colonial rule in South-East Asia in a rather shameful manner. IN DE OOST presents a selection of analogue imagery by one of our favorite young Dutch photographers, who has created a time capsule of the set that erupted in Indonesia during the first half of 2019. [ Continue reading ]

Ascension

A ‘Sea of Sand’

Greek photographer Yiannis Hadjiaslanis shared his latest project ‘Ascension’ with us. Shot on two visits to Mt. Bromo, in 2017, and 2020. Hadjiaslanis work explores narratives of places, documenting locations in Greece, across the Mediterranean and the African continent, he engages with questions of historical memory, the present conditions and speculated futures of lived environments, and their significance for those who live, create, interact and evolve with them. Whit his latest project Hadjiaslanis explores the Indonesian Mount Bromo, an open and bare landscape covered with ash in million shades of grey. A ‘Sea of Sand’. [ Continue reading ]

For the Rest of Us

Imagine a more preferable material future

Over the course of multiple years, both industrial designers Hank Beyer and Alex Sizemore, explored parts of the American Midwest researching eight material origins and their associated processes and history. Resulting in this highly aesthetic project called For the Rest of Us: A Journey into the Intangible Values of Regional Materials and Personal Computing. They’ve travelled extensively, interviewing dozens of people, collecting artefacts and taking pictures. From each material Beyer and Sizemore created a computer, providing a point of familiarity to an alternative reality. [ Continue reading ]

City Without Name

Austrian photographer Wolfgang Lehrner captures Mexico City

The brutal aesthetics hidden within the familiar of everyday life, the globalized sameness of todays metropolises, and the way these megacities are meticulously planned are central themes in Wolfgang Lehrner's work. As great fans of his immaculate eye, we have shared his beautiful Athens-shot series 'Metro-Polis' here before. Lehrner’s latest ambitious project named 'City Without Name' is another incredible addition to his body of work. Capturing different aspects of everyday life in Mexico City in his unique manner, he takes the spectator from the heart of the city all the way to the periphery and back again; always finding an extraordinary level of abstraction, straight lines, anonymous people on the move through the constructions erupted out of a seemingly infinite mix of glass, steel and concrete. Lehrner captures moments in Mexico City that are so familiar, yet feel as if taking place on a different planet. Evermore questioning the utopian concept of modernity, he portrays a city without distinct limits, always finding a way to mould these uniform and monotone moments into intrinsically captivating images. [ Continue reading ]

Province

Capturing the hedonistic youth of Ukraine’s provinces

What is it, that attracts us so much in raw and unpolished images like these, that capture the world of young adults? Despite that the genre appears in numerous forms, transcending different continents and contrasting cultures, there is always a similar open-mindedness balanced with a certain fragility that comes with youthfulness to be observed. Whether it is to be found in the colorful images of Gilleam Trapenberg or Katja Kremenić, the 78’s captured by Gil Rigoulet, the kids along the 8,000 Miles on a Motorcycle by Robin de Puy or the dark Dystopian Sequences by Alexis Vasilikos. All of these representations are related through a similar energy, inspired by the lack of a strictly demanding moral imperative — they all caption life's randomness in full effect that hits one first as an adolescent…

We just discovered a worthy addition to this list of favorites in the genre, created by the young Kiev-based photographer Nazar Furyk’s, whose ongoing series capturing the hedonistic youth of Ukraine’s provinces is uncompromising raw and beautifully vibrant, sucking one directly into the palpable world he has captured in still frames. [ Continue reading ]

Amsterdam

by Yoshinori Mizutani

Last weekend, the Westergas area in Amsterdam was completely transformed again for the Unseen Photo Fair. Following two slightly underwhelming editions, this year turned out to be a rather exciting display of photographic work from all over the world. In spite of these fluctuating levels of inspiration to be found in the booths, there's one spot that never ceases to impress us since their debut three years ago: the booth of Antwerp-based IBASHO Gallery. For Unseen 2017 they decided to bring work by our favorite photographer under their representation; Yoshinori Mizutani, who shot the series named 'Amsterdam' during his first visit ever to the city, while the 2015 edition took place (when we were all set to meet him, but he had to cancel because of sickness - hopefully next year!).

We've been fans of Mizutani's work from the moment we discovered his iconic 'Tokyo Parrots' series some years ago and he has been expanding his impressive portfolio with one beautiful series after another ever since. In recent years he has been moving beyond figurative images into the photographic abstract, which brings new layers of depth into his artistic vision and for one resulted in our favorite Plant Journal cover till date. Mizutani's abstract work beautifully touches a similar color palette as his figurative work and therefore still shows a remarkable similar signature, which is rare. With 'Amsterdam' Mizutani focusses on one of the city's most iconic landmarks; the canals, which now a days are structurally polluted by tourists or wealthy boat owners (and their drunken friends) — yet through the lens of Mizutani all of that ugliness is filtered out, in order for abstract colorful representations to remain, revealing some of the most beautiful expressionistic photography of the famous stretches of water that we have ever seen. [ Continue reading ]

The Summer Book

by Arturo Bamboo

Last Saturday, Kennedy Magazine hosted the release of a self-published Travel Diary by Arturo Bamboo. Arthur and Bamboo, living in Berlin and originally from the Netherlands, traveled the Mediterranean capturing intimate snapshots, portraits, legendary places and landscapes shot around various places. [ Continue reading ]

Big Papi

by Gilleam Trapenberg

We mentioned his name in last week's post on Rushemy Botter, who found the key inspiration for his 'Fish or Fight' collection on Curaçao  — freshly graduated Gilleam Trapenberg was born and bred in the Caribbean on the former Dutch colony (now part of the Kingdom) from where he came to The Netherlands after high school to study photography six years ago. Or basically, according to Gilleam, he came to study anything in The Netherlands despite his deep love for his home, and he knew photography would be the only direction he was really interested in to pull through. After applying to several academies, he ended up in The Hague at the Royal Academy of the Arts and last month he said his final goodbye to the school with our favorite graduation project of 2017 named 'Big Papi'. With the project he aims to represents the concept of masculinity in the Caribbean, shot over the course of the last two years in which he visited Curaçao, but also other Caribbean islands like St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Vincent, The Grenadines and St. Maarten. His perspective on the thematic resulted in a series comprised of remarkably captivating photographs in a beautiful cohesive color palette, forming a narrative one hardly sees or hears in The Netherlands, but (like Rushemy's collection) the country needs more than anything in the current political and cultural climate... [ Continue reading ]

The Constructed Landscape

Shibata Toshio at the Japan Museum SieboldHuis in Leiden

Three weeks ago, the Japan Museum SieboldHuis in Leiden, in the west of the Netherlands, opened the exhibition 'The Constructed Landscape', for the first time ever presenting this body of beautiful work by the highly talented Japanese photographer Shibata Toshio in The Netherlands. Known for his captivating landscape photography, Shibata captures signature images of large-scale highways and civil engineering constructions in uninhabited regions in deeply captivating photographic works. Civil engineering structures such as dams, lakes and bridges play a central role in his work. His perspective takes the viewer beyond the functionality of these structures and shows them the aesthetics of the infrastructure. His compositions illustrate how nature — weather, corrosion, erosion, water currents and landslides — reclaims damage done by human intervention. Shibata’s photos, taken with a large-format camera exude an atmosphere of fantasy void of references to time, place and scale. His works have been praised for their timeless, abstract and picturesque qualities — making his body of work among the most interesting in its genre. Specifically featured in this edition of the exhibition is a series of bridges in the Benelux as seen from various different perspectives.

For those in and around The Netherlands: don't miss this extraordinary exhibition before it closes on the 3th of September! [ Continue reading ]

Tokyo Compression

When the thrilling 'Tokyo Compression' series by German master photographer Michael Wolf was first presented in 2010, like the rest of the world, we were stunned by its captivating oppressive beauty. In the years that passed, the Asia dwelling photographer kept expanding the series, next to all of the other long-lasting chapters that portray the DNA of different Asian mega cities like Tokyo (and for instance Hong Kong, where the photographer has lived a significant part of his life) as sublime fine-grained puzzles full of mystery and unfamiliar beauty. In total, Wolf worked on'Tokyo Compression' from 2010 until 2013, with three publications as a result, that are among our favorites and part of the most interesting publications of its kind.

Today, we encountered not only one, but three reasons to shine light on this highly inspirational work once again: firstly, the arrival of the definite finale of the 'Tokyo Compression' series in printed form, with yesterday's release of the fourth book named 'The Final Cut' by German publisher Peperoni Books. Secondly, we discovered that some months ago the body of work was nominated for this year's prestigious Prix Pictet and most importantly; as a result of all this renewed interest, the series will be exhibited throughout the world once more in 2017. After it was shown at Blue Lotus Gallery in Hong Kong in the first months of the year, to our great pleasure, a 'Tokyo Compression' exhibition will open for the public in two days in our homebase Amsterdam, where it will be shown next to 'Hong Kong Coat Hangers' at the Wouter van Leeuwen Gallery until the 20th of May. Within that period another part of 'Tokyo Compression' will travel to London, were it will be on display at the Victoria and Albert alongside the other 11 nominees of the Prix Pictet until the 28th of May.

We are extremely excited by this fourth coming of one of our favorite series of all time, so we decided to share some of our favorites below. When in Amsterdam or London: don't miss the opportunity to see Wolf's magic first hand in the coming two months as this seems to be the final chance to do so! [ Continue reading ]

Romain Laprade

The highly talented Paris-based Romain Laprade is among a select group of photographers, succeeding throughout his ever-expanding body of still imagery work to create highly exiting depictions that are nothing short of cinematic: working in a deep warm color palette full of atmosphere and class. From the moment we caught his work of numerous modernist and post modern buildings (most recently the extraordinary Villa Noailles in Hyères) on Instagram, we have truly enjoyed his exquisite perspective on the world around us and kept track of his portfolio with every new entry. The photographer predominantly finds the inspiration for his imagery by mindfully observing his environment, both in the city, in nature and the exchange between the two. Laprade finds the most aesthetic details in the ordinary or on the other hand captures remarkable architectural creations in the most aesthetic frames. In all of these captures there is an interaction: between the borders of the frame; shades of the colors; rays of light; shadow and textures. These elements, that make up his remarkable signature, prove to be a guarantee for engaging images, having catapulted Laprade to one of our favorite photographers working today from the moment we first caught it. Enjoy some of our favorite images below. [ Continue reading ]

Sammy Baloji

From the moment we encountered the super inspirational work of  Congolese photographic artist Sammy Baloji, we haven't been able to get his haunting imagery out of our heads ever since. In the last decade, the artist, who resides in his city of birth Lubumbashi and Brussels, has gathered international acclaim with his photographic works that explore the cultural, architectural and industrial heritage of the region where he was born named Katanga in the African country Congo. Baloji juxtaposes photographic realities, combining past and present, the real and the ideal, to illicit extraordinary cultural and historical tensions.
With his imagery Baloji explores architecture and the human body as traces of social history, sites of memory, and witnesses to operations of power. History of art and documentary photography blend with that of colonialism. His series of photomontages, of revisited albums confront his historical research with the human and economic actuality (such as the new invasions of these territories by companies from China for instance). All of his juxtapositions are highly charged with meaning, but above all: always succeed in leaving an everlasting impression, that forces one to question past, present and future of Congo and the whole continent of Africa.  [ Continue reading ]

Flowers of Delusion

We recently encountered the work of Berlin-based photographer Dirk Müggenburg, who is best known for his remarkable still lifes and series of isolated shots from nature — all with a distinct cinematic quality and brooding mystique to them. His still lifes in particular are of an extraordinary beauty and predominantly the result of Müggenburg's obsession with flowers: both their inherent natural (decorative) beauty and the cultural position they hold. People use them as symbols to make statements of affection and mourning, which also means that people avoid them as they stand for vulnerability and doomed promises. It is very hard to view flowers as culturally neutral objects, for their vulnerable natural beauty arouse either admiration and desire or loathing due to cultural overexposure and negative connotations of kitsch. Müggenburg has explored this widespread hate-love relationship through a critical engagement with attraction, melancholia and sentiment in different series, all showing his extraordinary eye for detail and talent to create a distinct mood in his imagery.

The most diffuse series in his portfolio, aptly named 'Flowers of Delusion', is the one we love the most. As if taken behind a foggy window, the ensembles of flowers in vases are for the most part washed out over the frame, creating a photographic abstraction in the natural, pastel-like, color palette, without ever taking it beyond recognition. It is still very clear that this are flowers, but Müggenburg creates an atmosphere as if he is searching for a way to free them from their wide cultural affect — restoring what in our eyes is still the essence: extraordinary beauty. [ Continue reading ]

American Color 2

The tremendously talented photographer Constantine "Costa" Manos, who joined the roster of the legendary Magnum agency in 1965, first began taking photographs while in high school when he joined his school's camera club. Within a few years after discovering the art form, he actually becomes a professional photographer and at 19 he gets hired as the official photographer for the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, published into his very first book 'Portrait of a Symphony' in 1961. From 1961 until 1964, Manos lives in Greece, the country of birth of both his parents, photographing the people and landscape. Subsequently he returns to the USA, living in Boston. Where for instance in 1974, Manos was hired by the city to create the photographs for the prestigious 'Where's Boston?' exhibition: a large production in honor of Boston's 200th anniversary.

Decades later, in 1995, after having worked relentlessly for all those years, Manos' work finds a totally new audience when his iconic series focussing on the American people named 'American Color' is released. In 2010 he presents his second series of the same kind: 'American Color 2', which once more shows the extraordinary talent of Manos and has been a favorite of ours for years. As the name suggests, the photographer succeeds marvelously in creating incredible colorful images, portraying as much what is actually touched by the sun as what isn't, with most people in the frames hidden in stretches of shade to a slight surreal effect. Every one of the highly captivating images, succeeding to show one highly coherent signature, portray a America in all its richness, represented from a truly unique perspective of a great American photographer that still needs to be discovered by many. [ Continue reading ]

Grey Cobalt II

We recently discovered the stunning 'Grey Cobalt II' series by the Finnish photographer and visual artist Felicia Honkasalo, while browsing the greatly inspirational online archive of Aint–Bad, which is an extraordinary source for some of the most interesting photography being produced today. In recent years Honkasalo has been refocussing, both in her most recent Master's studies and the work she has been creating, beyond traditional photography into a broader visual arts direction, yet the more classical photographic series that was produced (and shared by Aint–Bad) at the end of 2014 focusses on objects, documents and photographs inherited from her late grandfather. It also already shows he free approach in experimentation with the still images, juxtaposing different genres of photography to create a narrative that both shows an interesting composition of different aesthetics and evokes an emotional reaction and the questions of what lays behind the depicted. Having never known her grandfather, she uses the narrative of remembrance to reconstruct him through his world that has ceased to exist — portraying rock matter, technical drawings of blast furnaces, and an encyclopedia worth of books on metals and mining, which together symbolizing a man and his world, that she never really knew, but inherently connected to her by blood. We are really inspired by both her aesthetic choices and the emotional narrative that transcends the imagery: incredible! [ Continue reading ]

Anama

In times of visual abundance, the photography of Petros Koublis still has a quality that more and more seems to disappear in the discipline — it evokes a mythical, almost otherworldly feeling through the immaculate depictions of divine landscapes, as he likes to call it himself. Koublis' latest series named 'Anama' took the photographer to the Greek island of Tinos. Positioned in the heart of the Aegean sea, the island is famous for its strong winds, immortalized since ancient times through the myths about long forgotten legends, among which is Aeolus, the god of winds, who was said to have his palace inside the clouds that embrace the summit of its highest mountain.

The project was initiated by Athens-based Talc Design Studio and it was commissioned by a local group of entrepreneurs. The idea was to project the unseen part of an island more famous as a religion center, with thousands of pilgrims visiting every year the shrine that hosts the miraculous icon of Virgin Mary. From the rough, weather beaten northern part of the island, to the milder south, the landscape opens a door towards an emotional interpretation of its form, in terms of a constant metamorphosis that started with the first awakening of consciousness of the first settlers of the island, thousands of years ago, and it continuous to this day through the eyes of Koublis, who caught the magical place immaculately, honoring all the inherent mythology in a perfect visual translation.  [ Continue reading ]

Sophie Tajan

After last weekend's highly anticipated (finally!) launch of Amsterdam-based perfume house Abel's new five piece vita odor collection and the accompanying official presentation of the redefined strategy, repositioning of the brand and completely restyled identity, which we worked on over the course of the last twelve months (everything on that later this week) — we first want to shed some well deserved light on the very talented and very lovely Paris-based Sophie Tajan, who was responsible for the photography in the project.

We first encountered her work while researching what direction the visual language for Abel should move towards, in order to distinctively communicate on more than one level what the 100% natural fragrances stand for. The fit with Tajan's artistic vision felt instantly perfect. With a portfolio consisting of part immaculate still life, part abstract documentary and part fashion photography: Tajan succeeds in all three areas. She creates captivating photographs throughout, photographing in natural light, creating imagery in a soft muted color palette and exciting shades of black, gray and white. Particularly her still life experimentations with light, distortions and reflections grabbed our attention and made her the undisputed perfect collaborator for what were trying to create. Looking back today, we can only conclude how happy we are with the outcome and look forward to see what's next for the greatly talented Sophie.

See all of Sophie's work for Abel on their new website. [ Continue reading ]

Ko-Ta Shouji

We recently discovered the beautiful photographic work of Tokyo-based Ko-Ta Shouji, that within its analogue 'snapshot' genre shows an inspirational marriage of the explorations of technical experiment with a captivating, emotional contemporary feel. Practically all of his images are taken on film, mostly characterized by that mentioned snapshot aesthetic: working with unorthodox, free floating frames, often full of joyful young energy, having a colorful metropolitan feel. Beyond catching his subject in, what feels to us as, the right moments, Shouji subsequently masterfully adds second and third layers to his imagery through light leaks, double exposures and blurred spots, infusing an ambiguous element of mystery that runs as a red threat through his whole portfolio — whether he shoots models in an editorial for a leading fashion magazine, his beautiful portrait series named 'gosees'; catching young models as free as they are right after what the title suggests, but also in his 'Untitled' series, being his most abstract body of work, portraying the world around us as a beautifully blurred place that haunts its spectator, built up layer after layer out of washed out colors and floating movement.

Having had a history as a stylist before turning to photography, Shouji clearly knows his way around catching and portraying a zeitgeist, without a doubt having been inspired by the photographic aesthetic that came to life in the communication of European fashion houses around the turn of the century, for instance through the creative endeavors of Martin Margiela joining forces with Mark Borthwick and Helmut Lang opening up new chapters in the work of Jurgen Teller. [ Continue reading ]

The Western Lands

Justin Clifford Rhody

It's been a while (a year maybe) since we first encountered the ongoing photographic essay named 'The Western Lands' by American photographer Justin Clifford Rhody, but it never really left us since that moment. The Michigan-born, Oakland-based artist, who predominantly shoots on film, started the series in 2012 and one of the reasons for moving to the West Coast was to continue exploring the Southwest of America from his new home, being within a day’s drive of Southern California, Arizona, Nevada and parts of New Mexico. Through a friend, the photographer was even offered to built a cabin in Northern New Mexico, which he has been using as the pivot point to keep expanding his photographic study, while immersing himself both physically and mentally in the desert. In his own words; it was the staggering quality of light and the physical expansiveness of the American West —"brutally unforgiving and indifferent to one’s needs, yet this seems to only inflame our desire to go further and deeper within the interior"— that inspired him to start and grasp intrinsic elements of it in his captions. And that intrinsic passion seems to burn in him today as it did in 2012.

It is extraordinary how Rhody finds frames that are nothing short of iconic —reminding of his idol William Eggleston, although being more fixed— in an utmost beautiful sun-kissed color palette, succeeding marvelously in communicating (his?) deep romantic feelings for this unique area combined with the melancholia that belongs to finding oneself at a dead end. Beauty and sadness in one. The photographer is clearly at awe, but can't help himself, to see that this magical place named the American West has entered a chapter with the times of glory laying behind us.

We can only hope for more observations by Justin Clifford Rhody of the American West, as through his lens it is a place that continues to deeply move us like no other... [ Continue reading ]

Bill Henson

Australian artist Bill Henson is the kind of maker that doesn't need any introduction and has been among our favorite photographers for more than a decade. He is one of those artists whose talent you almost take for granted as he's been around (and is regularly, often-times badly, mimicked) for so many years. Where instead you should always try to push yourself to take a minute and search for the feeling you once felt in the first, almost scary, encounters with his dark and brooding imagery — which he continuously has been producing over years, still living his mantra that he's only as good as his last picture.
Finding this insightful interview by ASX from 2015 by chance, caused one of those above mentioned moments, in which it occurred to us once more how unique and captivating Henson's artistic vision is. Without losing any of its relevance over the course of two decades, his masterful imagery, reminding of the work of a Flemish Renaissance painters, balances a deep shrouded darkness with piercingly enlightened, almost translucent corpse-like figures and objects. His photographs seem to stem from an interzone between day and night, nature and human civilization. His vision of the world around us is mysterious and cryptic and feels more relevant then ever in these confusing and ambiguous times we live in.
In the interview from last year, Henson talks about the theoretical and philosophical motivations behind his imagery, explains the creative workflow that's forced upon you when shooting analogue and confesses to have never shot a digital photograph with a camera(!) But more than anything it should stimulate to take a moment and another long and hard look at the mesmerizing work of one of the most interesting imagemakers of our time. [ Continue reading ]

Dystopian Sequence

Last year we discovered the work of Athens-based photographer Alexis Vasilikos, who next to uniquely capturing the world around him co-edits the incredible Phases Magazine, which is one of the most interesting destinations on the internet to discover new cutting edge and thought-provoking photographic projects stemming from all over the world. His work for Phases also clearly has set a rather ambitious bar for the work Vasilikos produces himself, as he has been creating series after series in a relentless pace only in the year or so that we had him on our radar (with his archive proof that he has been doing this for way longer than only the last 12 months). His latest series is another raw diamond, which we feel is some of the most interesting compositions of subversive reflections on society captured through a camera, we have encountered in quite a while.

Named 'Dystopian Sequence', in his latest output Vasilikos presents a series of images about love in the times of choleric capitalism. The initial inspiration came from the economic crisis in his country of birth Greece and the politics that are implemented by the IMF and the Eurogroup in the deficit countries of the South. It resulted in a highly diverse raw series, both in color and black and white, touching both beauty and a sense of discomfort, forming a narrative of melancholia and dispair, without ever sinking too deep into the darkness as there always will be hope — in our eyes remarkably represented by the two showering females, totally at ease in their vulnerability and with each other, piercingly caught by Vasilikos. [ Continue reading ]

Statues

Henrik Strömberg presented by Grundemark Nilsson Gallery

Next to the beautiful 'Invisible Machinery' series by Japanese photographer Toru Ukai, we had one undisputed favorite series of work on display during last weekend's Unseen Photo Fair: the incredible 'Statues' by Swedish born and Berlin-based Henrik Strömberg. In all the images of the photographic artist one encounters the world, remote, removed, almost as if disappeared. Places become difficult to locate, plunged into darkness, half empty rooms, left-behinds; and in the case of the series as seen in Amsterdam deformed statues. In his series 'Statues', which was one of the two series on display in Amsterdam, he took his vision to the iconic shapes of ancient sculptures, deforming them to a new austere composition, from which results this certain inward-looking nature, a deep and universal self-reflection. His view penetrates the invisible, seizes it and gives it a shape. A connection is created between the inside and the outside, the true essence of things and the mere sense of things — resulting in a new shape and aesthetic that both attracts and repels, but never fails to captivate.  [ Continue reading ]

Invisible Machinery

IBASHO Gallery presents the work of Toru Ukai at Unseen Photo Fair 2016

Tomorrow the 2016 edition of the Unseen Photo Fair will open its doors for the public at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam and it promises to be another celebration of photography, with work from all over the globe having found its way to the Dutch capital again. Although we weren't blown away by what saw in the former two editions, there will be always (we hope) those hidden gems to be discovered amidst the more repetitive imagery on display. Returning Antwerp-based gallery IBASHO is one of the participants we really appreciate.

Last year the gallery was a newcomer on Unseen (after they had just started their operation on the edge of the Antwerp-South area) and this year it brings a debuting photographer to Amsterdam, which we feel is one of those few great new talents to be discovered. With its focus on contemporary Japanese photography, during their first presence at Unseen Photo Fair IBASHO presented, amongst others, the iconic 'Tokyo Parrots' by the great Yoshinori Muzutani in Amsterdam, this time around it introduces the incredible series 'Invisible Machinery' by the very talented Toru Ukai. The Tokyo-based photographer is interested in the hidden and invisible structure in our modern society, which he has given the moniker invisible machinery, portrayed in his ongoing series to be seen at Unseen. Ukai observes the structure in the social systems, the law and the architecture, but also in the behavior of people; gestures and figures — captured in sharp and cold tones, with a distinct digital feel, proving to be a perfect fit for the science fiction-like arena which is urban Japan. Having such an interesting signature, perfectly fitting the narrative of his unique perspective on the world around him, makes us eagerly look forward where Ukai will take his beautiful photography in the years to come..

When visiting Unseen Photo Fair in the coming days, make sure to not skip IBASHO's booth and enjoy the work by the incredible new talent! [ Continue reading ]

On The Periphery

After (seemingly) slowly fading away over the course of this month, Summer has found its way back to The Netherlands again in the last few days. With the temperature back at around 30°C, it feels like the perfect time to share another very inspirational (sun blazing!) ongoing photographic series named 'On The Periphery' by Sinziana Velicescu, which we originally discovered a while ago, but came back to our attention when a new selection was on display at AIA|LA gallery in July. The very talented Los Angeles-based photographer has made a name for herself in the last five years, soon after graduating from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor in Comparative Literature and Film, with her steady high quality output being picked up worldwide ever since — both in exhibitions and publications. Throughout her entire catalogue there is a clear signature to be observed; working predominantly in natural (sun)light, always finding those colorful abstract crops in the seemingly ordinary to create a captivating image, all captured directly in the world around her (oftenly Los Angeles, as the case with 'On The Periphery').

In a time in which 'Instagram-friendly' photography (which Velicescu's work clearly is: make sure to follow here) sometimes gets confused with 'made for Instagram', the genre one could categorize her work in might be de facto an ever-growing field with too much (just our humble opinion) mediocre imagery with no real substance beyond the depiction — Velicescu proves with every series that she truly is part of the highly talented periphery of photographers, never failing to succeed in finding those fragmentations of the ordinary that both please the eye and evoke the question what narrative lays underneath that single frame.

We can't wait for more observations from Velicescu's own private Los Angeles... [ Continue reading ]