Off beat

“I don’t listen to music while taking photography. Because I sing. I am wondering someday I could find someone who is singing the same song as me.” A-chan Off Beat presents photographs taken in New York City in 2008 and 2009, when A-chan began working with black and white film. The images were made in the same wandering spirit as those in Vibrant Home, also to be published this season by Steidl. A-chan explored the streets of New York, allowing her compositions to reveal themselves rather than searching for pre-determined motifs. Pigeons perched on a branch, the lyrical geometry of serviettes on a table, or the play of shapes created by a bus silhouetted against traffic: such is the material of A-chan’s restless, charming vision. Born in 1978 and raised in Japan, A-chan began her career designing advertisements, CD jackets and magazine editorial. She has exhibited her photographs and held slide shows at galleries including Nadar Gallery and Lounge Roots, both in Tokyo. In 2006 A-chan moved to New York City and in 2007 began working with Robert Frank. She has co-edited and co-designed a number of Frank’s books including Tal Uf Tal Ab (2010) Pangnirtung (2011) and the upcoming You Would.