shashasha

For years, Japanese photographer Sen Yokotani traveled the world, from Eastern and Western Europe to South America, India, Egypt, Africa, Russia, the Middle East, and China, visiting former deserts, mountains, monasteries, battlefields, and refugee camps. His new book, "Mokuso-roku" ("Meditations"), is a photographic record of his encounters. Surrounded by the jet-black margins of the pages, Yokotan's sepia-toned photographs capture the world before him as well as his inner world. The book's deeply spiritual, almost otherworldly atmosphere is the result of Yokotani's unique approach, shooting with a modified lens and printing only on photographic paper he made himself.

"The book opens stiffly at first, as if it refuses to be read. There is no author or publisher's name on its jet-black pages, except for the title inscribed in dull gold leaf on the spine. The book has not been chemically treated; each time it is read, the pages become easier to open, and the texture of the cover changes over time, responding to the hands that hold it. ‘Mokuso-roku' is a photo book that grows with the reader, and its unique design is Sen Yokotani's message about our modern society and its abundance of mass-produced, homogeneous products.
― from publisher Yasushi Ozaki's statement (translation by shashasha)