今春購入するのに最適な新しいフォトブック

The late Chinese photographer and poet Ren Hang was known for his nude portraits and intimate imagery of friends that challenged social taboos in a tightly censored cultural landscape. In nearly all of his photographic work, the nude body is positioned outdoors, set within natural landscapes and often framed by natural elements like leaves or twigs. Ren Hang at Work by Austrian photographer Peter Coeln showcases an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at Hang during a 2015 photoshoot near Vienna. Capturing over 300 candid moments, Coeln’s unobtrusive lens unveils the vulnerability and solitude that shaped Hang’s vision.

Celebrated Malian photographer Malick Sidibé (1935–2016) was best known for his black-and-white images that documented youth culture, nightlife, and social life in post-independence 1960s Bamako, Mali. Sidibé crafted a visual narrative of this particular era and place, and Painted Frames reimagines Sidibé’s iconic portraits into vivid, hand-painted coloured frames created in collaboration with the artist and local Malian artisans toward the end of Sidibé’s life. Published by Loose Joints, the book showcases a lesser-known late series of Sidibé’s work. Painted Frames revives Sidibé’s joyful, expressive vision, capturing not just individuals, but the spirit of a nation undergoing significant political and social change.

Talking about LA is a richly textured photo book by Désirée van Hoek, who casts her sharp eye on downtown Los Angeles’s historic Broadway. A city full of contradictions, Hoek captures tightly framed images of urban fragments in LA, with cropped signposts, graffiti tags, advertisements and pavement markings appearing. Alongside the images, critic Norman M Klein’s writing explores memories, fiction and historical insights centred on the city. The book uncovers hidden narratives and explores the layered identity of a city in flux, presenting a poetic reflection on erasure, change, and the complex visual language of LA.

Alaïa by Seklaoui is a stunning 704-page visual chronicle of Pieter Mulier’s transformative first years at the iconic fashion house, captured through the behind-the-scenes lens of photographer Anthony Seklaoui of the Alaïa ateliers, fittings, and runway shows. Since taking the reins in 2021 after the house conducted an extensive two-year search, Mulier’s approach was a continuum of Alaïa’s legendary legacy, which celebrated architectural silhouettes and body-conscious tailoring while introducing a new, modern sensuality. Alaïa by Seklaoui is an intimate look into the collaborations behind Mulier’s early collections.

Fragmented snapshots of cropped faces, lips pressed against faces in the intimate work of Swedish-Syrian artist Jwan Yosef, Intimacies is a new photo book that explores queer identity, desire, and marginalisation through the artist’s painting and sculpture. Divided into three categories – Touch, Object, and Brush – the photo book captures fragmented, sensual bodies that draw on Yosef’s personal experience as a queer Arab man. Yosef uses abstract forms and tactile techniques, like exposing the paintings stretcher bars, to question societal norms and explore intimacy, identity, and queer embodiment in a deeply personal way. “Both my job as an artist and my experience as a queer man compel me to look for and reconsider the stories and meanings society imposes on material, objects, and people,” he explains. 

Set in 1970s suburban Michigan, Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut The Virgin Suicides was released in 1999 and starred Kirsten Dunst, along with Josh Hartnett, James Woods, and Kathleen Turner, in a film that explores the complexities of adolescence and repression. On the 25th anniversary of the film, The Virgin Suicides catalogues unseen photographs from the making of the film, with BTS moments, taken by the late British photographer Corinne Day. Edited from Day’s original negatives, this volume gives a mesmerising insight into Coppola’s staging of the Lisbon sisters and their suburban trappings, and includes contributions from Coppola and author Jeffrey Eugenides. 

Italian fashion photographer Paolo Roversi rose to prominence in the late 1970s with his unique use of large-format and Polaroid cameras. His new photo book from Thames & Hudson offers a comprehensive look at 50 years of his work, including his collaborations with fashion designers and models, most famously with Yohji Yamamoto, as well as Romeo Gigli, Rei Kawakubo, and Dior. Accompanied by writing from curator Sylvie Lécallier, who has described his photography as “detached from the spirit of the times,“ the photo book highlights Roversi’s lasting influence on fashion.

Read our feature on the book here. 

Imagine owning a personal collection of photographs by icons like Bob Mizer, George Platt Lynes, and Bruce of Los Angeles. This is the reality for curator and photography critic Vince Aletti, who now shares his private collection in the photo book Physique. Showcasing over 250 rare prints of mid-20th century homoerotic photography, spanning the 1930s to the 1960s, these images, once circulated discreetly, reveal a hidden queer visual language and capture an emerging queer identity. The book celebrates these seminal images and honour their contribution to gay visual culture.

Read AnOther’s feature on the book here. 

Past Lives is the 13th book in the A24 Screenplay Collection, with an in-depth exploration of the delicate and personal experience of love, memory, and identity in Celine Song’s debut film Past Lives (2023). The beautifully curated volume features Song’s full screenplay of the Oscar-nominated film with film stills, alongside essays by Lynn Nottage, Sloane Crosley, and Doreen St Félix, and a reflective dialogue with scholar Andrew H Miller. The essays explore the film’s complex emotional precision of Song’s personal experience as a Korean-Canadian woman, and how she uses cinematic storytelling to explore longing and the Korean notion of in-yun (the belief in fate). 

The late Chinese photographer and poet Ren Hang was known for his nude portraits and intimate imagery of friends that challenged social taboos in a tightly censored cultural landscape. In nearly all of his photographic work, the nude body is positioned outdoors, set within natural landscapes and often framed by natural elements like leaves or twigs. Ren Hang at Work by Austrian photographer Peter Coeln showcases an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at Hang during a 2015 photoshoot near Vienna. Capturing over 300 candid moments, Coeln’s unobtrusive lens unveils the vulnerability and solitude that shaped Hang’s vision.

Celebrated Malian photographer Malick Sidibé (1935–2016) was best known for his black-and-white images that documented youth culture, nightlife, and social life in post-independence 1960s Bamako, Mali. Sidibé crafted a visual narrative of this particular era and place, and Painted Frames reimagines Sidibé’s iconic portraits into vivid, hand-painted coloured frames created in collaboration with the artist and local Malian artisans toward the end of Sidibé’s life. Published by Loose Joints, the book showcases a lesser-known late series of Sidibé’s work. Painted Frames revives Sidibé’s joyful, expressive vision, capturing not just individuals, but the spirit of a nation undergoing significant political and social change.

Talking about LA is a richly textured photo book by Désirée van Hoek, who casts her sharp eye on downtown Los Angeles’s historic Broadway. A city full of contradictions, Hoek captures tightly framed images of urban fragments in LA, with cropped signposts, graffiti tags, advertisements and pavement markings appearing. Alongside the images, critic Norman M Klein’s writing explores memories, fiction and historical insights centred on the city. The book uncovers hidden narratives and explores the layered identity of a city in flux, presenting a poetic reflection on erasure, change, and the complex visual language of LA.

Alaïa by Seklaoui is a stunning 704-page visual chronicle of Pieter Mulier’s transformative first years at the iconic fashion house, captured through the behind-the-scenes lens of photographer Anthony Seklaoui of the Alaïa ateliers, fittings, and runway shows. Since taking the reins in 2021 after the house conducted an extensive two-year search, Mulier’s approach was a continuum of Alaïa’s legendary legacy, which celebrated architectural silhouettes and body-conscious tailoring while introducing a new, modern sensuality. Alaïa by Seklaoui is an intimate look into the collaborations behind Mulier’s early collections.

Fragmented snapshots of cropped faces, lips pressed against faces in the intimate work of Swedish-Syrian artist Jwan Yosef, Intimacies is a new photo book that explores queer identity, desire, and marginalisation through the artist’s painting and sculpture. Divided into three categories – Touch, Object, and Brush – the photo book captures fragmented, sensual bodies that draw on Yosef’s personal experience as a queer Arab man. Yosef uses abstract forms and tactile techniques, like exposing the paintings stretcher bars, to question societal norms and explore intimacy, identity, and queer embodiment in a deeply personal way. “Both my job as an artist and my experience as a queer man compel me to look for and reconsider the stories and meanings society imposes on material, objects, and people,” he explains. 

Set in 1970s suburban Michigan, Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut The Virgin Suicides was released in 1999 and starred Kirsten Dunst, along with Josh Hartnett, James Woods, and Kathleen Turner, in a film that explores the complexities of adolescence and repression. On the 25th anniversary of the film, The Virgin Suicides catalogues unseen photographs from the making of the film, with BTS moments, taken by the late British photographer Corinne Day. Edited from Day’s original negatives, this volume gives a mesmerising insight into Coppola’s staging of the Lisbon sisters and their suburban trappings, and includes contributions from Coppola and author Jeffrey Eugenides. 

Italian fashion photographer Paolo Roversi rose to prominence in the late 1970s with his unique use of large-format and Polaroid cameras. His new photo book from Thames & Hudson offers a comprehensive look at 50 years of his work, including his collaborations with fashion designers and models, most famously with Yohji Yamamoto, as well as Romeo Gigli, Rei Kawakubo, and Dior. Accompanied by writing from curator Sylvie Lécallier, who has described his photography as “detached from the spirit of the times,“ the photo book highlights Roversi’s lasting influence on fashion.

Read our feature on the book here. 

Imagine owning a personal collection of photographs by icons like Bob Mizer, George Platt Lynes, and Bruce of Los Angeles. This is the reality for curator and photography critic Vince Aletti, who now shares his private collection in the photo book Physique. Showcasing over 250 rare prints of mid-20th century homoerotic photography, spanning the 1930s to the 1960s, these images, once circulated discreetly, reveal a hidden queer visual language and capture an emerging queer identity. The book celebrates these seminal images and honour their contribution to gay visual culture.

Read AnOther’s feature on the book here. 

Past Lives is the 13th book in the A24 Screenplay Collection, with an in-depth exploration of the delicate and personal experience of love, memory, and identity in Celine Song’s debut film Past Lives (2023). The beautifully curated volume features Song’s full screenplay of the Oscar-nominated film with film stills, alongside essays by Lynn Nottage, Sloane Crosley, and Doreen St Félix, and a reflective dialogue with scholar Andrew H Miller. The essays explore the film’s complex emotional precision of Song’s personal experience as a Korean-Canadian woman, and how she uses cinematic storytelling to explore longing and the Korean notion of in-yun (the belief in fate).