Oscurana — Antoine d’Agata

Oscurana — Antoine d’Agata (Single Volume from Collective Edition)

This signed volume of Oscurana by Antoine d’Agata, co-published in 2017 as part of a six-part international editorial project, is part of the Darwin Bookshop because it embodies a radical experiment in collaborative publishing, transgressive aesthetics, and the ethics of witnessing. Each of the six publishers across Latin America and Europe produced their own distinct version of Oscurana, using a shared structure—same title, dimensions, and central text—yet allowing for different material and visual interpretations.

The copy held here is a standalone volume from this constellation, printed on deep black paper with gold handwritten typography, featuring d’Agata’s haunting monochrome photographs of sex, trance, and resistance. Designed and printed by Le Dernier Cri in Marseille, under the direction of Pakito Bolino, it fuses underground graphics with d’Agata’s fevered visual language. Each photograph is a confrontation, not a document—bodies blur under duress, light becomes substance, and violence and intimacy co-exist within the same dark frame.

Though part of a broader six-volume project, this edition stands alone as a self-contained object and was also issued in a rare boxed set. This particular copy is signed by d’Agata in Arles in 2021, anchoring it within the performative continuum of his work. At Darwin, Oscurana is held as a key artefact in the landscape of experimental photobook publishing, collective authorship, and embodied photography.

Technical Sheet

Title: Oscurana
Artist / Author: Antoine d’Agata
Date: 2017
Technique / Printing Method: Offset printing, gold ink on black paper
Medium / Materials: Softcover, staple-bound
Dimensions: approx. 21 × 28 cm
Language: French
Pages: Unpaginated
Publisher / Editor: Le Dernier Cri (France), part of the Oscurana six-publisher collective
Signed: Yes (signed in Arles, 2021)
Edition: One of six distinct volumes from the Oscurana project
Condition: Near fine