Sydney is Hijacked

Armed America portraits by Kyle Cassidy

The Armed America website compiles portraits of the owners of weapons in America. Photographer and writer Kyle Cassidy traveled more than 12,000 miles for more than two years taking pictures of armed Americans in their houses, all the while looking for the answer to the complex question: ‘Why do you own a gun?’ Cassidy’s work has become an item of incalculable value, not only because of its conceptual strength, but also because of the description of the way of living, feeling and thinking of many inhabitants of America. Read more

Rafal Milach’s Black Sea Of Concrete series

Of his series, Black Sea Of Concrete, Polish photographer, Rafal Milach says: ‘Eight photographers from Sputnik Photos collective were asked to cover contemporary Ukraine. Some got particular assignments, but I was free to choose the topic. As I knew I would be working in winter, I decided to go to the Black Sea. I wanted to have raw landscapes and real people. It was the only time of the year when I was able to avoid the tourist facade. The other reason why I picked the Black Sea coast was the fact that, for many years, it was a place where the entire Soviet Union went for summer holidays. Since the Orange Revolution in 2004, Ukraine has been an independent country, but still, very often, people are not able to detach it from its Soviet past. You can feel that strange mixture by the Black Sea coast’. Read more

Nirrimi Hakanson

All you photographers out there, a word up on one of the most prodigious emerging photographers in Australia. And if you’re nursing an inadequacy complex, seeing Nirrimi Hakanson’s folio might propel you to briefly flee your aspirations and think about getting a job at the local supermarket. Hopefully, it will inspire you. The self-taught sixteen-year-old Hakanson has been taking photos on a digital SLR since the age of thirteen, after starting out on a disposable camera. Her distinctive style is ethereal and reminiscent of photo albums filled with enchanted childhood memories. Read more

Luciano Rigolini’s new book: What You See

There’s something unsettling about stumbling onto discarded photographs. A family album set adrift from its owner or a displaced snapshot calls out to be rescued. Swiss photographer and filmmaker Luciano Rigolini is one of a growing number of artists turning the anonymous or found photograph into an artform. In his new book, What You See, Rigolini brings together a disparate collection of photographs retrieved from sifting through flea markets, archives and the Internet to create a mysterious arrangement of images. Freed from the moorings of their original context, these anonymous images inspire new stories and become a mesmerising projection screen in their own right.

Harajuku’s Style Deficit Disorder

It’s just a few winding blocks in a city bursting with over twelve million people, but the influence of Tokyo’s fashion hub Harajuku extends way beyond its physical reach. Style Deficit Disorder is a new book by US born, Tokyo-based author and fashion editor, Tiffany Godoy, that documents the dizzying array of trends, movements, styles and designers the district has spawned in its short history. Heading out onto the streets like a fashion anthropologist, Godoy interviews wearers and designers of signature looks now synonymous with Japanese style like kawaii (cute) and goth-lolita, while feature essays from some key players in the magazine industry show just how crucial the neighbourhood is as a platform for new labels. From big hitters like Rei Kawakubo’s Commes des Garcons to Nigo’s A Bathing Ape, as well as smaller scale brands including Milk, Baby the Stars Shine Bright, Super Lovers and Sophnet, they all got their start on the streets of Harajuku.

Lemon Poppy Seed

Creating letters from sky might seem an impossible task. Not only is this done very nicely by Lisa Rienermann in Type the Sky, but her aerial approach to typography sits comfortably among the pages of a new book from Die-Gestalten. Lemon Poppy Seed: Multitasking Creativity is a compilation of work by a diverse and international selection of young designers bonded together by their independent spirit and a desire to push the boundaries of graphic design. Read more