Your Photos Deserve to Be Big

I already shared this on Instagram, but last Saturday I held a collaborative exhibition with SUPER NICE, an Australian apparel brand. For this show, I displayed four A0-sized prints (841 × 1189 mm / 33.1 × 46.8 inches).

Have you ever exhibited your work at A0 size?

I actually have before—and honestly, it’s one of my favorite ways to show photos. There are a few reasons for that.

First, large prints have a simple but undeniable power: they overwhelm you.
In a world where everyone has gotten used to viewing images on tiny phone screens, seeing the exact same photo blown up huge in a gallery hits completely differently.

And when a print is that big, viewers start noticing details inside the frame that they would have never seen on a phone. As photographers, having someone notice those little details we cared about… that’s one of the best feelings.

To be honest, I never actually knew what the tattoo on the woman’s lips said—the one I used on the cover of 404 NOT FOUND Issue 2.1.
But when I printed it at A0 size for this show, I finally noticed it for the first time.

It said “SILENCE.” haha

There’s something really cool about opening your mouth and revealing the word “silence.”

Another reason is this:
When you print at A0 scale, a photograph stops being just an image you look at. It becomes a subject.

At the exhibition, several visitors used the A0 prints as backdrops to take their own photos. I also took portraits of people who bought my zines, shooting them in front of the giant prints.
When your print itself becomes a subject—something that others photograph—it spreads your work even further. And personally, that makes me incredibly happy.

Huge thanks to SUPER NICE for giving me the opportunity to do this exhibition.
We’re also planning to sell a limited number of the collaboration T-shirts through FED soon, so if you’re interested, make sure to follow the FED Instagram.

The material is insanely good—honestly one of my favorite T-shirts.

That’s it for this week’s edition.
Thank you for reading. See you next week!

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.