The Secret Books, a project by Sean Kernan made over several pre-digital years, centers on the book as a recurring, enigmatic subject. The series approaches it as both tactile object and engine of thought, testing how it carries ideas of infinity, mortality, and precarious knowledge into the late twentieth century’s shifting information landscape. In this role, the book becomes a small stage where anxiety, curiosity, and possibility intersect.
Visually, the work unfolds as a suite of monochrome still lifes in which an old, usually Latin volume occupies a nearly constant central position. Around and upon it, Kernan arranges stones, bones, birds, twigs, metal, and geometric forms; at times the book is nailed, painted over, or locked behind bars. The compositions are spare, often limited to the book and a single charged object, inviting viewers to supply their own narratives. Deep blacks, strong contrast, and consistent, directional lighting create an atmosphere that feels hushed and slightly ominous.
Technically speaking, The Secret Books is rooted in analogue craft. Kernan worked with a large view camera and 4x5 Type 55 Polaroid film, which produced both an instant proof and a separate negative for darkroom printing. In the final silver prints he often included the negative’s edge markings, allowing the image to sit as an object on the paper. The consistent framing, lighting, and format make the series read as a single unfolding meditation.
The project first appeared in book form in 1999, in a volume that sets Kernan’s photographs in dialogue with short stories by Jorge Luis Borges without illustrating specific plots. Following this publication, Kernan’s work, including photographs from the series, has been presented in institutional and festival settings including the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt, Guggenheim Projects in New York, Photosynkyria in Thessaloniki, Greece, and MASS MoCA in Massachusetts.
