issue #53 of big is a cultural and geographical journey into the ultimate city of excess. cover photograph by guido mocofico.
after the issue was designed, the pages were randomly shuffled, just like a deck of cards from a casino. this allowed the stories to intertwine, recreating the feeling one gets while driving down the strip and being bombarded by "random" visuals and signs of sin city.
for the issue photographer kenji toma was commissioned to shoot items in various pawn shops in las vegas. the objects are beautifully sad and it is hard not to think of the events that might have lead to their owners dire destiny.
as part of a series on american cities, ceft and company was asked to guest-curate an issue for the award winning publication big. we welcomed the challenge, but when originally asked to work on the new york issue we were rather disappointed.
besides seeming too easy, and having foreseen the final results, we simply didn't see new york as a representative city of the US. instead, we proposed las vegas as a symbolic city for the false dreams and excess's of the past decade.
the result was a limited edition hardcover version priced at $1,000, as well as the soft covers which were available at a mere $18.00. the line-up of collaborators included star photographers such as guido mocafico, larry fink, karen collins and ellen von unwerth along with up-and-coming talents such as russ flatt, andrew zuckerman, and tim richardson.
