If stones are solitary philosophers, then soap is like an ordinary person, quietly going about the work of everyday life.
— Nobuhiro Yamaguchi

One of Korea's most celebrated photographers, Koo Bohnchang, has devoted decades to photographing used bars of soap as a lifelong body of work. For this newly revised edition—the first in sixteen years—the selection of photographs and the overall sequence have been substantially reworked.

The 112-page volume contains fifty-two photographic plates, together with introductory essays by the artist and the book's designer, Nobuhiro Yamaguchi. A chronology of Koo Bohnchang's life and career is included at the end of the book.

Special Edition

Special Edition with an original photographic print.

For inquiries, please contact info@fragile-books.com.

About the Author

Koo Bohnchang

One of Korea's leading photographers, Koo Bohnchang has consistently explored the traces left by time. His photographs reveal the invisible presence that exists only within moments of stillness.

Among his best-known bodies of work is White Porcelain, a long-term project documenting Korea's white porcelain heritage. Although these vessels are regarded as an essential part of Korean cultural history, relatively few remain in Korea today. Koo has photographed examples dispersed throughout museum collections around the world—from the British Museum to the Japan Folk Crafts Museum—creating a photographic archive of these remarkable objects.

His publications include Jewels of Everyday Life (Rutles, 2007), White Vessel (Yido, 2015), and numerous other titles.

Koo Bohnchang has held more than forty solo exhibitions worldwide, including at the Samsung Rodin Gallery, Seoul (2001); the Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts (2002); Galerie Camera Obscura, Paris (2004); Kukje Gallery, Seoul (2006); the Kahitsukan – Kyoto Museum of Contemporary Art (2006); the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2006); the Goeun Museum of Photography, Busan (2007); and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2010).