Liam Wong

A thrilling photographic adventure around an offbeat selection of the world’s abandoned buildings, captured by one of the videogame industry’s most beloved creatives. Urban exploration is a way of life for those who choose it as their passion. The secrets and mysteries that disused places incite can be intoxicating and inspiring. As Nakamura has said herself, ‘I love breaking boundaries and making people say “WOW”. As artists, we use our imagination to see the INVISIBLE. Project UrbEx documents a multitude of abandoned spaces, placing them into thematic sections – from lost hotels and ex-military sites to factories, laboratories and hospitals. A bright Pantone orange ink is used throughout for the text and chapter openers – popping on the page to reflect Nakamura’s sense of fun, vibrance and imagination. With a foreword by videogame-designer-turned-photographer Liam Wong, the book also features sections of Nakamura’s personal travel diary, printed on pages with a narrower width, in a rich Pantone black. She has also created, and in some cases specially commissioned, exclusive manga drawings to illustrate her words – bringing her much-loved sense of humour to the forefront of the narrative and displaying her keen interest in exploring many mediums of creativity.

An intimate, one-of-a-kind photographic journey that documents Liam Wong’s nocturnal wanderings through the world’s most captivating cities. In this singular photographic publication, Liam Wong weaves together a series of cinematic images that reveal the people and places, the slivers of life, that inhabit the mysterious space of night-time cities. Through his previous work as a videogame designer, Wong learned that ‘real life is just as potent, bizarre and interesting as things we can imagine’. From Hong Kong and Seoul to London and Edinburgh, After Dark reveals shadowy cityscapes through the eyes of the insomniac artist. For centuries, artists have found both solace and fruitfulness in solitude. Through sleepless and solitary nights, After Dark explores the phenomenon of loneliness in city life, capturing urban interstices between dusk and dawn: the eerie emptiness of London’s Piccadilly Circus at 4:00 a.m., Seoul’s late-night taxi drivers moving along hushed roads and birds sharing the warmth of a neon sign in Hong Kong’s TSM District – mysterious silhouettes representing lives lived in shadow, portrayed as intricate cinematic visions, all before the sun rises. Building on the success of his first monograph, TO:KY:OO, Wong widens his lens to capture the night in the world’s most exciting cities. From workers leaving their night shifts to empty streets illuminated by neon signs, Wong charts the hours of darkness as populated scenes become deserted ones. The book’s photography – framed to specific film ratios – is imbued with a cinematic intensity underscored by Wong’s interest in film, while its themes are amplified through specially commissioned Chinese characters that pay homage to the works of celebrated Chinese director Wong Kar Wai.

A testament to the art of colour composition, this book – art directed by Wong himself and produced to the highest printing standard – brings together a complete and refined body of images that are evocative, timeless and completely transporting. Rounding out the volume's special treatment is the first publication use of the 45/90 font, designed by Henrik Kubel, of London-based A2-TYPE. The book also features a section that reveals the creative and technical process of Wong’s method, from identifying the right scene to making a good composition, from capturing the essence of a moment to enhancing colour values and deepening an image’s impact – insights that will be invaluable to admirers and photography enthusiasts alike.

Liam Wong’s debut monograph, a cyberpunk-inspired exploration of nocturnal Tokyo.‘I want to take real moments and transform them into something surreal, to make the viewer question the reality depicted in each photograph. This body of work encompasses my three years as a photographer and ultimately the completion of my debut photo series.’ Liam Wong A testament to the deep art of colour composition, this publication – art directed by Wong himself and produced to the highest printing standard – brings together a complete and refined body of images that are evocative, timeless and completely transporting. Rounding out the book’s special treatment is the first publication use of the 45/90 font, designed by Henrik Kubel, of London-based A2-TYPE. The book also features a section that reveals the creative and technical process of Wong’s method, from identifying the right scene to composition, from capturing the essence of a moment to enhancing colour values and deepening an image’s impact – insights are invaluable to admirers and photography enthusiasts alike.