Sensuous Newsprint: Privé By Arturo Bamboo

In an act of revelation, Arturo Bamboo—the working name of Dutch photographers and lovers Arthur Groeneveld and Bamboo van Kampen—have created Privé: a black and white publication that intimately documents their relationship.

A year on from the launch of their first book, Summer Diary, Arturo Bamboo’s unique visual language finds published form once more in a large format, black and white, nude magazine. In a statement about the work, the pair explains, “What sets this series of images apart is the fact we’re together and both function as photographer as well as subject – in this way every shot has a very personal view…The photos are untouched and show everything reality offers: imperfections, light, pleasure, tension, lack of focus, and darkness.” The series is abstract and beautiful; black, white and blurred moments of intimacy where the observer and the observed artfully merge. It’s an unusual exploration of a relationship, though public there is much that remains unsaid, and more that seems covered—despite the bare-all quality of their images. “The large newspaper format was, for us, the ideal size to display the beauty and sensuality of the human form”, explain the pair, “while the visible imperfections of the black and white films in combination with the raw fading character of the newsprint paper gives a certain depth, tactility and rhythm.”

We gave Arturo Bamboo a disposable camera and asked them to shoot their Berlin; you can find the results in IGNANT’s first print magazine Spaces Between. Available online here.