Renovation projects impacting services at multiple library locations. More information.
A new exhibit at the Lucille C. Little Fine Arts & Design Library (FADL) showcases a unique medium that combines photography, the book arts, and more than a century of tradition into a single, integrated system of design: the Japanese Photobook.
Curated by Becca Joiner and Trevor Logan – both second year MFA studio art candidates at the School of Art & Visual Studies – the exhibit highlights a wide variety of historic and contemporary Japanese photobooks drawn from the FADL collections.
Housed on the first floor of the FADL, the exhibit will be on display throughout the fall semester.
As they made their selections for the exhibit, Joiner and Logan together pulled the entirety of the FADL’s Japanese photobook collection off the shelves – nearly 50 books – and pored over them. “We spent time with each one, paying attention to the thematic through-lines of the images and the quality and craftsmanship of the books themselves, and individually drifted towards our own aesthetic preferences and what we each found compelling,” said Joiner.
The result is a range of works that reflects the contours of the FADL’s collection, from recently-published works to modern photobook classics, and captures the many variations of the quintessential Japanese photography aesthetic: by turns gritty, grainy, intimate, and fragile.
“The book itself is a work of art, as much as the images within it,” said Joiner, “and the materiality is an essential part of the overall design, from the cover to the paper to the physical impacts that accumulate on the books over time.” One book in the exhibit is nearly falling apart from years of heavy use.
Making their way through the stacks and pulling out all the books that caught their eye, the curators brushed up against the lightning-like serendipity that lies coiled in every library’s tightly-packed shelves. “The way that our attention works, it’s so easy to scroll through images on the internet and spend no more than a second with each one,” said Logan. “But with a tactile object in your hand, you’re forced to slow down, be present, and really see what’s in front of you.”
A book that became central to the exhibit, Sakiko Nomura’s Tender Is the Night, was discovered in just this fashion. “Until I pulled the book off the shelf, I’d never encountered Nomura’s work,” said Logan, “but she has now become someone whose work I’m returning to again and again.”
“That’s the wonderful thing about libraries: you’re inevitably going to make discoveries that you don't expect,” he said.
As they prepared for the exhibit, Joiner and Logan worked closely with Karyn Hinkle, Director of the Fine Arts & Design Library. “It was wonderful to work with Karyn, who gave us free rein to explore and provided a tremendous amount of encouragement and support,” said Joiner.
The Japanese Photobook serves as a complement to Edge Logic: Thirteen Japanese Photographers, an exhibition of contemporary Japanese photography displayed at the Bolivar Art Gallery in September.
