Bearing in mind the many great masters of photography who have previously documented libraries in their various forms, Bohbot aims to capture these well-loved spaces with a unique, coherent approach to atmosphere, color and composition, always consciously paying tribute to the architects behind the buildings with his visual style. He deliberately shies away from the cold architectural photograph, instead celebrating the structures by imbuing his images with a strong sense of architectural personality; though tempering the photographs’ celebratory nature is an equally palpable air of melancholy, marking the institutions’ growing supersession by modern digital alternatives.As we move towards becoming an increasingly digitized society, this testament to the home of the printed word is a reminder of the once-precious physical object of the book, and the serene majesty of these institutions that first made such transformative objects accessible. With no human readers visible in the images, the books serve as the main protagonists of the series, with the library interiors forming their stately backdrop. The grandiosity of the chosen structures comes to symbolize the significance of the library itself—a vital, democratic space of refuge, education, remembrance, and possibility.
