Thomas Sauvin - Signed - Verso - 2022
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Description from the seller
Thomas Sauvin's VERSO is a fascinating exploration of memory, anonymity, and the hidden stories embedded in vernacular photography. Drawing from his extensive archive of discarded Chinese ID photographs, Sauvin transforms ordinary portraits into mysterious visual objects by revealing the handwritten notes concealed on their reverse side. Through the simple act of illuminating each print, text and image merge into a single composition, creating unexpected connections between identity and memory.
The resulting photographs blur the boundaries between document and abstraction, inviting viewers to imagine the lives behind these anonymous faces. What were once functional identification pictures become poetic reflections on time, loss, and the fragile traces people leave behind. Sauvin's conceptual approach is both elegant and deeply human, demonstrating how overlooked photographs can be reinterpreted to uncover new layers of meaning.
Beautifully designed and produced in a large-format edition, VERSO is a compelling photobook that celebrates the materiality of photography while offering a unique meditation on archives, remembrance, and the invisible narratives hidden within everyday images.
Seller's Story
Dartbooks is a specialized photography bookshop based in Barcelona, dedicated to photobooks, rare and out-of-print editions, and historically significant publications. With a strong focus on Japanese photography, Dartbooks was founded to provide continuity to a field that requires depth, expertise, and careful curation.
The bookshop was established after the closure of Kowasa, a landmark reference for photography books in Spain. Its disappearance left a clear gap for photographers, collectors, and institutions in need of a space with a serious and knowledgeable approach to the photobook. Dartbooks emerged in response to that need, not as a replacement, but as part of the natural evolution of a cultural ecosystem.
Dartbooks operates with a curatorial mindset, shaped by long-term engagement with photography and book collecting. The project functions as a book hunting platform for collectors, professionals, and libraries worldwide, and also provides advisory support to other bookshops seeking to develop coherent and specialized photography collections.
The catalogue includes new publications, rare and out-of-print titles, monographs, retrospectives, self-published works, signed copies, and editions produced directly by photographers through their own imprints. The selection reflects a sustained commitment to photography as a form of visual narration, where images construct meaning beyond text.
Although rooted in the Gràcia neighbourhood of Barcelona, Dartbooks serves an international audience. Its community includes collectors, professionals, and institutions from France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and beyond, both through the physical space and the online platform.
Dartbooks understands the photobook not merely as an object of consumption, but as a cultural artifact that documents artistic practices, historical contexts, and personal visions. The bookshop functions simultaneously as a place of discovery, an archive in constant growth, and a point of connection between photographers, publishers, and readers.
Thomas Sauvin's VERSO is a fascinating exploration of memory, anonymity, and the hidden stories embedded in vernacular photography. Drawing from his extensive archive of discarded Chinese ID photographs, Sauvin transforms ordinary portraits into mysterious visual objects by revealing the handwritten notes concealed on their reverse side. Through the simple act of illuminating each print, text and image merge into a single composition, creating unexpected connections between identity and memory.
The resulting photographs blur the boundaries between document and abstraction, inviting viewers to imagine the lives behind these anonymous faces. What were once functional identification pictures become poetic reflections on time, loss, and the fragile traces people leave behind. Sauvin's conceptual approach is both elegant and deeply human, demonstrating how overlooked photographs can be reinterpreted to uncover new layers of meaning.
Beautifully designed and produced in a large-format edition, VERSO is a compelling photobook that celebrates the materiality of photography while offering a unique meditation on archives, remembrance, and the invisible narratives hidden within everyday images.
Seller's Story
Dartbooks is a specialized photography bookshop based in Barcelona, dedicated to photobooks, rare and out-of-print editions, and historically significant publications. With a strong focus on Japanese photography, Dartbooks was founded to provide continuity to a field that requires depth, expertise, and careful curation.
The bookshop was established after the closure of Kowasa, a landmark reference for photography books in Spain. Its disappearance left a clear gap for photographers, collectors, and institutions in need of a space with a serious and knowledgeable approach to the photobook. Dartbooks emerged in response to that need, not as a replacement, but as part of the natural evolution of a cultural ecosystem.
Dartbooks operates with a curatorial mindset, shaped by long-term engagement with photography and book collecting. The project functions as a book hunting platform for collectors, professionals, and libraries worldwide, and also provides advisory support to other bookshops seeking to develop coherent and specialized photography collections.
The catalogue includes new publications, rare and out-of-print titles, monographs, retrospectives, self-published works, signed copies, and editions produced directly by photographers through their own imprints. The selection reflects a sustained commitment to photography as a form of visual narration, where images construct meaning beyond text.
Although rooted in the Gràcia neighbourhood of Barcelona, Dartbooks serves an international audience. Its community includes collectors, professionals, and institutions from France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and beyond, both through the physical space and the online platform.
Dartbooks understands the photobook not merely as an object of consumption, but as a cultural artifact that documents artistic practices, historical contexts, and personal visions. The bookshop functions simultaneously as a place of discovery, an archive in constant growth, and a point of connection between photographers, publishers, and readers.
Details
Number of books
1
Subject
Photography
Book title
Signed - Verso
Author/ Illustrator
Thomas Sauvin
Condition
Very good
Publication year oldest item
2022
Height
35 cm
Edition
1st Edition
Width
24.5 cm
Language
Chinese, English, French
Original language
Yes
Publisher
Jiazazhi Press / RVB Books
Binding/ Material
Hardback
Extras
Signed by author
Number of pages
128
