A nuanced new photobook reflects on the impossibility of capturing Japan
Photographer Lucie Rox’s SIGNS is a sensitive take on an age-old dilemma
![Taxi driver in Japan, from SIGNS, by Lucie Rox](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FbNBXNisidkWS4zZFRBfC3-415-80.jpg)
The title page of Marseilles-born, London-based photographer Lucie Rox’s new book, SIGNS, is bare except for a quote from literary theorist Roland Barthes’ 1970 meditation on Japan, Empire of Signs. Appropriate, given that Rox’s publication – a book collating around 30 photographs taken over the course of two weeks spent in Japan in late 2017 – draws in part on the ideas Barthes lays out in it.
‘The author has never, in any sense, photographed Japan,’ writes Barthes in the short text cited. ‘Rather, he has done the opposite. Japan has starred him with any number of “flashes”; or, better still, Japan has afforded him a situation of writing.’ This idea was poignant for Rox, who revisited Empire of Signs shortly before her own trip.
‘I really liked the position that [Barthes] takes in the book, which is that he’s very conscious of being an occidental person in Japan,’ she explains. ‘Travelling there, you're never going to be able to grasp the meaning of everything around you, You can't attempt to “tell the story of Japan” – instead, his position is to analyse what he sees, and what that means for him.’
Rox’s own approach was, in some ways, similar. Though she hadn’t intended to create a body of work from her travels – from Tokyo to Kyoto and their environs, with some unexpected suburban gems in between – when she returned with a wealth of pictures, she felt inclined to recontextualise them within a physical object that might last a little longer than her fleeting memories. Grouped together in the book – which has been thoughtfully designed by art director Callum Walker, and published in a hand-numbered edition of 150 – it feels not like a reflection of the places visited, but rather of the photographer herself.
RELATED STORY
Unexpected quiet corners, gently flickering leafy shadows and slick and scruffy city streets complete with their pensive passers-by all feature. They, too, are ‘flashes’, captured with the same sensitivity and nuance that underpin Rox’s work for editorial and commercial clients. Her practice treads the fine line between soft, romantic imagery and its more sinister underbelly, but these photographs are imbued with a soothing sense of calm – perhaps it’s the warm hazy light that settles over everything?
There are questions within the series, too. ‘I love travelling, but I’m thinking about how we travel as westerners, and how we consume other cultures,’ Rox continues. ‘It’s a privileged position, to be able to travel to all these places so easily, and I think you have to be careful about what you take from them.’ In that respect, SIGNS is modest – being simply a reflection of a fortnight spent exploring a vast country that is opaque in its history, culture and ideas. And what’s more, both the book and its creator are happy in their attempts at understanding, and misunderstanding, what all those untold meanings might be.
INFORMATION
SIGNS, £15, edition of 150. Book launch on 21 November from 6-9pm at Photobookcafe in Hackney, London. lucierox.com
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Deathmatch wrestling’s behind-the-scenes moments and bloody glory
A new limited-edition book explores the intersection between art and deathmatch wrestling at a sold-out show held in Tokyo
By Anne Soward Published
-
How the west won: Ivan McClellan is amplifying the intrepid beauty of Black cowboy culture
In his new book, 'Eight Seconds: Black Cowboy Culture', Ivan McClellan draws us into the world of Black rodeo. Wallpaper* meets the photographer ahead of his Juneteenth Rodeo
By Tracy Kawalik Published
-
‘Package Holiday 1968-1985’: a very British love affair in pictures
‘Package Holiday’ recalls tans, table tennis and Technicolor in Trevor Clark’s wistful snaps of sun-seeking Brits
By Caragh McKay Published
-
‘Art Exposed’: Julian Spalding on everything that’s wrong with the art world
In ‘Art Exposed’, Julian Spalding draws on his 40 years in the art world – as a museum director, curator, and critic – for his series of essays
By Alfred Tong Published
-
Marisol Mendez's ‘Madre’ unpicks the woven threads of Bolivian womanhood
From ancestry to protest, how Marisol Mendez’s 'Madre' is rewriting the narrative of Bolivian womanhood
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Olafur Eliasson inaugurates Azabudai Hills Gallery in Tokyo
Olafur Eliasson marks launch of Azabudai Hills Gallery, in Tokyo’s major new district, with a show of elemental strength
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
Photographer David Abrahams captures quiet moments in Japan for his new London show
‘Kyushu’ is a new show from photographer David Abrahams that documents his trip to a town on the Japanese island
By Mary Cleary Published
-
Photo book explores the messy, magical mundanity of new motherhood
‘Sorry I Gave Birth I Disappeared But Now I’m Back’ by photographer Andi Galdi Vinko explores new motherhood in all its messy, beautiful reality
By Hannah Silver Published