ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu 2012 winner, Edwin Koo, has launched his first photography monograph featuring two series, Paradise and Visage in his signature black-and-white style.
Paradise is a 164-page monograph on the Singapore photographer's search for Shangri-La in one of the most controversial places in recent history – the Swat Valley in Pakistan. Koo has photographed the daily life and some of the events taking place in the beautiful valley, documenting changes since the mass exodus in 2009 when more than 2 million people fled the fighting between the government, allied forces and the Taliban.
Visage presents photographs Koo took when he visited the Cognac region of France in early 2013 as part of the prize that he received as winner of the ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu 2012. The 84-page book is a toast to the men and women working at the distilleries to create Martell’s cognac, with 49 black and white photographs detailing the cognac-making process and many of the people involved.
As first published on BlouinArtinfo.com