In The Vicinity
 In his latest photobook In The Vicinity,
Ed Panar navigates a remote corner of Mendocino County, an area located
within the Emerald Triangle, also known as the heart of California’s
cannabis culture. Hidden under the cover of densely forested mountain
sides, foothills and valleys, the cannabis plant is leading the way and
being tended to: cultivated and revered for its potent economic,
psychotropic, and mythological values. We find ourselves in the midst
of a secretive world where clandestine operations take place behind
rambling fence lines, locked gates, and dusty dirt roads in an ever
shifting gray area of legalization, self-sufficiency and raw
capitalistic impulses. The plant itself—the primary star of the
scene—remains elusive in this Edenic rural atmosphere, where some of
the most productive outdoor cultivation of this multi-billion dollar
cash crop is occurring just out of sight. The quiet clarity of
Panar’s photographs—landscape, still life, details and the occasional
nonhuman observer— provide an open ended invitation to consider not
only an area within and along the edges of this industry, but also the
gray areas of photographic representation and its ability to provide
“documentary” insight into something as elusive and enigmatic as the
allure of this mythical plant and the emerging modern cannabis economy.
Signed copies of In The Vicinity by Ed Panar are in stock now here.
The First March of Gentlemen
 In The First March of Gentlemen,
Rafal Milach creates a fictitious narrative composed of authentic
stories. He retells the historical childrens strike in Wrzenia in
Poland from the early 20th Century, through collaged archive
photographs from the 1950s and 1960. By blending these elements, he has
created a new narrative, to be read as a playful metaphor for the
political situation of the present. At the turn of the 20th century,
when western Poland was under German occupation, over 100 students of
the Catholic People’s School took part in a strike against the German
influence on their education. When Milach’s residency in Września
coincided with street demonstrations in Poland, he couldn’t ignore the
correlation between past events and the present. As a result, the
children’s strike forms the basis of this metaphorical tale, retold
through images from the archive of Września photographer, Ryszard
Szczepaniak taken in the 1950s and 1960s. Milach detached the figures
from Szczepaniak’s photographs, both literally and figuratively, from
their original context and placed them onto bright, candy-coloured
backgrounds. The figures are caged in geometric shapes, which, as the
book progresses, increasingly constrict and restrain them. The figures
remain oblivious to the building claustrophobia and their imprisonment
– an effective metaphor for the illusion of freedom. Ania
Nałęcka-Milach, designer of the book, created the physical object to
reference the size and colour palette of children’s school exercise
books, a layer of camouflage to the serious subject matter.
A new edition of
this acclaimed (and out of print) book which made many best-of lists in
2017, is now available. Order the 2nd edition of The First March of Gentlemen by Rafal Milach here.
The Arsenic Eaters
 Simon Brugner’s The Arsenic Eaters investigates
the widespread historical belief that the consumption of arsenic,
generally known to be a deadly poison, is beneficial to one’s health.
Accordingly, many ‘poison eaters’ were found among the Austrian rural
population in the nineteenth century. What they were ingesting was
white (arsenic trioxide) or yellow arsenic (arsenic trisulfide). It was
produced by roasting arsenic-containing minerals. Though being a
popular custom among hard working people like stablemen, wood cutters,
and foresters, arsenic eaters were very anxious to conceal the fact,
particularly from medical men and priests. It was also believed that
once a person became an arsenic eater, he can never stop the habit. To
do so would bring rapid decline in health, leading inevitably to death.
The book consists of two parts. The first, contemporary part, traces
the poison eaters and tries to find a link between the past and the
present. It sketches a possible reality in which the obscure habit of
arsenic eating is conceivable. The second part presents Brugner’s
research, mainly based on medical papers from the nineteenth, early
twentieth century and on-location findings. The book features
contemporary photographs as well as archival material.
The Arsenic Eaters by Simon Brugner is in stock now here.
Anastasiia
New photobook Anastasiia
is a declaration of love from a Kyivan student to her foreign lover and
her native land, Ukraine. Through parallel streams of documentary
images, Skype screenshots and texts, a dialogue is reconstructed
between Anastasiia and her lover, the photographer Christian van der
Kooy. The book covers a period of two years in which Ukraine faced
major changes. The book describes, among other things, the
‘removal of communism’, such as the bringing down of Lenin’s statue in
December 2013 and the manual scrubbing of the Maidan Square after the
Revolution, but also National Women’s Day, Crimea just before the
annexation, the relationship between religion and superstition. Ukraine
is considered to be subject to the Russian sphere of influence.
Therefore, within the current Ukrainian discourse, there is an urgent
need to capture a visible, understandable cultural identity that
listens to the ideas of a younger generation. With Anastasiia, Van der
Kooy tries to contribute to this. His depiction of Ukraine demonstrates
the creative way the Ukrainian people deal with the current
developments in Kyiv, Odessa and Crimea.
Signed copies of Anastasiia by Christian van der Kooy are in stock now here.
Loose Shingles
Loose Shingles displays alternate photos and outtakes from Ed Templeton's
many projects over the last few decades, including Teenage Smokers,
Teenage Kissers, and other editorial and street shots. This Box Set of
50 cards also includes a new element, Templeton has hand drawn the
backs of each photograph which provides more information on the images
and adds a personal touch.
Signed copies of Loose Shingles by Ed Templeton are due in stock early August, and are available to pre-order now here. Also available are limited signed copies of the similar B-Sides Box Set, Homing In
by Todd Hido here.
See all our current photobook inventory here.
Holiday Hours
We will be closed for a holiday from July 19th to August 5th. We aim
to ship books as normal until this break starts, but please do place
any priority orders as soon as possible. All orders placed during
the holiday period will start shipping from the week commencing Monday
August 6th.
New feature
Photobook Recommendations and Bestsellers, by Martin Amis
Read more
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