Illuminance brings together photographs made by Rinko Kawauchi over a period of approximately fifteen years. The Japanese edition was published by FOIL in 2011, with editions also released internationally in the same year.
The title refers to “illuminance,” the intensity of light. Images of water, plants, animals, the body, reflections, and small moments from everyday life unfold across different times and places, with each photograph resonating with those around it. Through these seemingly ordinary scenes, Kawauchi brings together opposing elements—light and darkness, life and death, beauty and sadness—revealing their quiet coexistence within the everyday world.
Published ten years after Utatane, Hanabi, and Hanako, Illuminance has become one of Kawauchi’s defining photobooks.
Illuminance Rinko Kawauchi FOIL, 2011 220 × 286 × 35 mm Signed Cover shows fading; some spotting to the interior pages.
