honorable mention
> joSon united states
title
The Paris You Dream Of
The subject of my project, 100 Views of the Eiffel Tower: The Paris You Dream Of, is inspired by the Japanese artist Hokusai's, Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. Hokusai's woodblock prints reflect the towns and valleys that rest along the base of Japan’s tallest mountain. Although Mount Fuji is an important icon throughout the series, his main subjects are often of people on their journey through breathtaking scenery, with Mount Fuji in the distance.
In this sense, Hokusai’s work chronicles the birth of modern travel within Japan in the early twentieth century. Today we travel around the world to experience urban spaces and man-made structures. Often these structures were built for one specific reason yet gradually come to symbolize something far larger. Hence although the Eiffel Tower was first built as a monument to Industry, Science, Architecture, and Engineering over a century ago, today it has clearly transcended its original purpose to symbolize something far more complex, personal, and ethereal.
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entry description
What is an icon and how does something become Icon? What is it about Paris that affects people on such a deep emotional level? These are questions that have always fascinated me when I hear people talk about Paris--as if Paris were a long-lost lover. And yet for those who actually live and work in Paris, this love affair is one big complication. This is why I want to explore the notion of Paris as an urban space. How does the Parisian cityscape and iconography turn the “City of Lights” into “the Icon of Love”? How does a city become like a lover?The subject of my project, 100 Views of the Eiffel Tower: The Paris You Dream Of, is inspired by the Japanese artist Hokusai's, Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. Hokusai's woodblock prints reflect the towns and valleys that rest along the base of Japan’s tallest mountain. Although Mount Fuji is an important icon throughout the series, his main subjects are often of people on their journey through breathtaking scenery, with Mount Fuji in the distance.
In this sense, Hokusai’s work chronicles the birth of modern travel within Japan in the early twentieth century. Today we travel around the world to experience urban spaces and man-made structures. Often these structures were built for one specific reason yet gradually come to symbolize something far larger. Hence although the Eiffel Tower was first built as a monument to Industry, Science, Architecture, and Engineering over a century ago, today it has clearly transcended its original purpose to symbolize something far more complex, personal, and ethereal.
about the photographer
Award-winning photographer joSon was born in the Philippines to a Filipino mother and an African American father. Sent to live with his mother’s family in Vietnam at age ten, he was educated in a Buddhist temple in preparation for becoming a monk. “I thought that was my calling long before I saw life through the viewfinder,” joSon recollects. “But the truth is, I have never left the monk-hood. I just left the temple.” Today joSon is a professional photographer based in San Francisco whose work is collected by an international list of clients. His work has appeared in magazines including Scientific American, Outside, Conde Nast Traveler and Vogue. He as won awards from Photo District News (PDN), Communication Arts, and American Illustration and American Photography (AI-AP). As Sunset Magazine described joSon’s first monograph, joSon: Intimate Portraits of Nature, from Graphis Press in 2013: "Had Richard Avedon taken up gardening, he might have ended up with photos like this.”back to gallery