Laurence Vecten, the creative mind behind the publishing house LozenUp and the One Year of Books project has just released a calendar for 2012 called One Year of Japan.
This calendar is a charity project to raise funds for Japanese Red Cross. Laurence asked 4 different photographers to submit 3 pictures each, Hiroshi Nomura black and white pictures for winter, Seiji Kumagai for Spring, Aya Muto for Summer and Yuko Amano for Autumn.
All of the benefits will go to the Japanese Red Cross.
Published by Lozen up Design by Madoka Rindal 9 sheets 18 x 24 cm Edition of 500 12 euros + shipping
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The latest book from the very prolific Charles Fréger is called Seijinshiki and is made together with the manga artist Little Fish. Seijinshiki(also spelled Seijin Shiki) is a coming-of-age ceremony in Japan when 20 year old girls dress in a formal kimono known for its very tactile aesthetics and materials such as fur. Charles has made portraits of these girls in front of self-made backdrops depicting classical formal Japanese paintings. The irritating odd element is the reoccurring “peace” and “victory” signs which these girls project to the camera. This little gesture, which is such an integral part of young peoples posing for the camera, becomes, like so much of the japanese culture, a bridge between very very old traditions, and contemporary pop elements.
The manga story from Little Fish depicts a narrative of 2 girls excited about their upcoming ceremony, dressing up, drinking saki and then, in the end falling asleep as a dark figure comes to strip them of the beautiful robes. A very loaded ending, symbolizing the loss of naiveté and innocence.
Hardbound with 80 pages, 16 photographs from Charles and 24 pages of manga from Little Fish.
The book is published by the japanese publishing house Akaaka. According to Charles there are only a few in europe so it might be hard to find them, but it is really beautiful so it might be worth the hunt. Maybe start, obviously, with an email to the publishers in Japan.
Manga by Little Fish
Charles Fréger
Charles Fréger