JTF (just the facts): Published in 2025 by Multipress (here). Hardcover custom-made box (24.5 x 34 centimeters) housing 78 folded, unbound sheets in varying sizes. There are no texts or essays included. In an edition of 300 copies. (Cover and spread shots below.)

Comments/Context: In diafragma, Signe Fuglesteg Luksengard’s first monograph with Multipress, the artist delivers a profoundly contemplative book. The photobook object is a deftly considered hardback folio with gold foil stamping on the front and the spine. Once opened, an unbound stack of sheets of different paper sizes – all on a lightweight washi paper stock, some pages folded and some not – invites readers to engage with the imagery in a multitude of intriguing and unforeseen directions. 

Luksengard is a Norwegian artist, originally from a small village near the mountains of Norway and now living in Oslo. Her photographs delve into the emotional and atmospheric world of introspection by looking with attention at the delicate nature of both the human body and the natural world. She achieves this through a diverse array of photographic styles and subjects. 

To fully experience diafragma, ample table space is essential, as its sheets vary in size and feature photographs on both sides, always printed to the very edge of the page. Viewers are encouraged to arrange the individual sheets like puzzle pieces on a tabletop to observe the varied interactions between images and how they illustrate life’s non-linear path. The photographs are evocative, often transforming organic elements such as flower petals, human hair or flesh, dew on a flower, or reverberant window light into vibrant scenes that elicit an immediate, visceral response, compelling the reader to slow down and deeply engage with the book’s form and content.

This photobook easily engages four of the five senses. Each time the book is opened the washi pages release a pungent, satisfying aroma of ink on paper. Tactilely, the transition from the strong feel of the box’s book board to the delicate pages of the paper stock offers an exercise in engaging with material differences. The washi paper itself reveals paradoxical qualities of lightness, delicacy, and incredible resilience and strength. The whispering sound of the paper unfolding and folding, though subtle, is loud enough to leave an impression, drawing the viewer deeper into the book’s physical presence. Visually, the striking beauty and vibrancy of the photographs command the viewer’s full attention. A blend of black and white and color images are included. 

While the power of the integrated object quality of this book functions very well with the images being interleaved together in an unconventional construction, it does not diminish the fact that the photographs stand alone as striking individual images. The overall quality of the work is characterized by gentle, carefully observed moments that might often be overlooked or occasionally deemed unworthy subjects for art. One particular photograph, a close-up of a toilet bowl with egg-yolk yellow water, remains memorable. Depending on the day, it can appear as a sunny-side-up egg or an unflushed toilet, yet it consistently registers as beautiful, regardless of interpretation. Several other images, like the close-up texture and color of the backside of a person’s hand, an up close fragmented scene of a person’s armpit with the hair defying gravity, or a snowy night where falling snowflakes appear enormous or minuscule depending on their downward flight’s distance from the camera, are strongly reminiscent of Rinko Kawauchi’s spirit of small observations (M/E by Kawauchi reviewed here). 

The title of the book, diafragma, is a deliberate and significant choice, directly referencing the diaphragm, the most important muscle of respiration. This choice of title is intended as a subtle yet profound influence on the viewer’s experience, preparing them to engage with the photobook not just visually and intellectually, but also on a visceral, bodily level. By drawing attention to this fundamental physiological process, the title prompts a conscious or subconscious awareness of one’s own breathing, fostering a deeper, more mindful connection to the photographic content. This connection aims to create an immersive experience, suggesting that the act of viewing the photobook can be as elemental and perhaps as renewing as the act of meditative breathing itself. 

I met Signe in the spring of 2024 at the workshop “A Workshop At Home with Alec Soth.” This workshop, true to its name, took place at the photographer Alec Soth’s residence in Minneapolis, MN. All of the participants stayed together on the same property, allowing for extensive and intimate sharing of work throughout the week-long workshop experience. Signe brought an original handmade copy of diafragma, which, at the time, was a handcrafted photobook edition of only three such copies; the other two had been lost in transit by various postal services while being submitted to dummy book awards worldwide. Later that year, Signe won a 2024 Hasselblad Photobook Grant. Soon after, in 2025, Multipress released this trade edition in a run of 300 copies, a faithful facsimile of the handmade artist’s proof I had seen in 2024.

Luksengard’s diafragma stands out as a thoughtful and sensuous photobook. Its clever design immediately captivates, and offers a dynamic and liberating experience. The individual images and pages are not bound by a fixed sequence, allowing for an extraordinary degree of fluidity. Viewers are encouraged to reorder and rearrange the content at will, creating new associations with each new visual interaction. This tactile engagement transforms the act of reading into a meditative process, where the viewer’s own physiological rhythms—their breath, pulse, body temperature, and sweat—can subtly influence and dictate the pace at which the visuals unfold. The very act of holding and manipulating the book becomes an integral part of its expression, fostering a deeply personal and contemplative journey.

Collector’s POV: Signe Fuglesteg Luksengard does not appear to have consistent gallery representation at this time. Those collectors interested in following up should likely connect directly with the artist via her website (linked in the sidebar).