"UNITS" by Seth Lower, published by MACK

A photo book by Seth Lower published by MACK

hardcover
112 pages
230 x 180 mm
color
2019

published by MACK

A collection of works by American photographer Seth Lower, featuring photographs taken from 1994 to 2017. The book showcases a diverse array of everyday materials and situations, including set pieces, parts of objects, and various iterations of the same item. Within these landscapes, the author seeks to explore ambiguous questions about criteria for measuring things, significance, and the boundaries between reality and experience, in search of some form of completeness, or its absence. Examples include signs enveloped by tree trunks, numerous funnels lined up, and a cooking unit for sale under the bright sun. Where does one unit end and another begin? Naturally, it is possible to have one foot in two worlds, being part of the whole while simultaneously being separated from it. However, does this provide us with any understanding about the units of objects themselves? Or does it merely illustrate how we define them? American philosopher Graham Harman has described such pieces as "closed areas that retain their own identity while being half-buried within a larger system."