Paul Mpagi Sepuya: Dark Room A–Z

Paul Mpagi Sepuya: Dark Room A–Z
Category: Photographer Monographs & Art Books
Reviews: star star star star star
Author: Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Publisher: Aperture
Publication Date: 2024
Print Length: 456 pages
Language: English
Price: paid paid paid

In Dark Room A–Z, photographer Paul Mpagi Sepuya offers a comprehensive reflection on the methodologies and artistic strategies that have shaped his work over the past two decades. This pivotal volume unpacks his Dark Room series (2016–21), diving deep into the layered network of references and the interconnected community of artists and subjects that Sepuya has woven throughout his images. Grounded in a collaborative, rhizomatic approach to studio practice and portraiture, Sepuya’s work is explored here with thoughtful precision.

The book presents a multifaceted study of Sepuya’s creative process, using three distinct “voices” to explore and cross-reference the conceptual categories that define his art. Through this structure, the book reveals the intellectual and artistic data points that Sepuya draws from, offering a dynamic dialogue between the artist’s own writings, new texts by curator and scholar Gökcan Demirkazik, and selections from previously published critiques by colleagues, friends, and critics. The volume also incorporates quotations from writers and thinkers who inspire Sepuya, shedding light on the thematic preoccupations that consistently surface in his work.

Dark Room A–Z serves as both an exhaustive manual and an iterative return to the generative methods behind Sepuya’s image-making, making it an essential guide to understanding his evolving practice. By cataloging the conceptual underpinnings of his work, the book illuminates Sepuya’s exploration of portraiture, collaboration, and the photographic process itself, offering an intimate look into one of today’s most innovative artists.

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