I,ma,ge, Backups, Nobody Knows – Xiaopeng Yuan

I,ma,ge, Backups, Nobody Knows is a photography book of  Xiaopeng Yuan, published by Commune Press. The publication presents a selection of photographs produced during the artist’s travels across Japan between 2023 and 2025. The images originate from I,ma,ge, Backups, an ongoing archival project developed as a personal strategy for preserving photographs against digital loss and fragmentation.

The series is organized around the folder Nobody Knows, a section of the archive dedicated to unplanned observations captured in public space. Working as an observer moving through unfamiliar linguistic and cultural environments, Yuan records streets, interiors, infrastructures, and everyday situations without intervention. The photographs are defined by distance, timing, and chance encounters rather than directed narratives.

The publication reflects on photography as an archival practice, where collection, storage, and categorization become part of the creative process. Images function as records of presence and movement, documenting places that were not consciously performing for the camera. The resulting sequence examines the relationship between memory, anonymity, and image accumulation within contemporary digital culture.

Designed by New York–based graphic designer Han Gao, the book extends the logic of the archive into its editorial structure, organizing photographs as a continuous visual record rather than a linear narrative.

Xiaopeng Yuan (b. 1987) is a photographer based in Shanghai. His work has appeared in publications including TANK Magazine and Kinfolk, and he has collaborated with brands including Bottega Veneta and AURALEE. He is also the founder of Same Paper, an independent publishing and creative studio established in Shanghai in 2013.

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/ First Edition
/ 15 × 20,5 cm
/ 140 pages
/ English

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