Cool Hunting

"25 Under 25" is the second volume of the collection of work of young, up and coming American photographers. Curator Sylvia Plachy selected the photographers based on whom she believes offer the viewer the greatest passage into a visual epiphany.

The body of work covers everything from the political to the metaphysical, and each photographer has in common the fact that they offer a unique truth through their extraordinary abilities in visual storytelling.

I was most excited by the work of Ami Howard, who opens up the lid on what we assume to be reality and takes an eerie look inside with her series, "Other Dimensions." Howard riffs off of a strange ritual of the eighteenth century French Jansenists, who would often transcend reality by convulsing until they entered trance-like states. She repeats the image of an obscured creature covered in a sheet, alone and oscillating in different environments. Howard's work is a perfect example of the way a photographer can not only bring us into a single moment but also show us something that we may not have considered as to what it means to be alive.

"Emptiness is the homeostasis of a space" is the premise of Greg Mrotek's series, "Between Rooms," exploring emptiness as a signifier of transition and as something that holds its own story. "In some, the physical appearance is changing; in others, the space itself awaits new occupants or reveals old ones."

Futoshi Miyagi merges social experimentation and sexuality with photography with his quirky series, "Loving Strangers." He says, "The procedure was simple: go to a stranger's place and take photographs of us together, acting as if we were in a relationship." Miyagi's images feel awkward and resonate deeply, akin to the films of Werner Fassbinder.

Pick it up from Amazon.