Merton Wu’s “021” arrives as the twenty-first entry in Setanta Books’ bi-monthly series dedicated to emerging photographers, a context that frames the volume as both a standalone statement and part of a deliberate publishing rhythm. The book is a softcover of 48 pages, measuring 21 by 16 centimeters, with a card wraparound cover; the edition runs to 350 copies, and a special edition includes a signed and numbered Giclée print in an edition of twenty-five. These details describe a modest but carefully produced object, one that prioritizes the physical intimacy of the photobook over spectacle.
Wu’s artist statement, reproduced by the publisher, outlines a photographic ambition rooted in ordinary experience: meals with family and friends, a prayer in church, a favorite book on a Sunday afternoon. He seeks to convey love, hope, warmth, longing, contemplation, and nostalgia, and he invites viewers to find their own sense of beauty in everyday life. His attraction to film—its unpredictability and imperfection—aligns with his stated interest in wabi sabi, the Japanese idea of finding beauty in things that are imperfect. Each frame, he says, is stripped down to its essence in order to tell a story. This is not a documentary of events so much as an arrangement of moods, and the photobook format allows those moods to accumulate across a sequence.
For collectors, the significance of “021” lies in its place within a defined series and in the coherence of Wu’s stated concerns. The bi-monthly structure means the book participates in a larger project of presenting emerging photographers, and the special edition’s print—offered in three titled images, “Stolen Moment,” “Lost in Thoughts,” and “Passage of Time”—extends the photographic encounter beyond the page. The edition of 350 copies is not presented as scarce, but it is limited, and the series has a demonstrated continuity. Those who follow Setanta’s catalog will recognize the value of keeping the run intact; those new to Wu’s work will find a considered introduction to a photographer whose subject is the quiet extraordinary within the ordinary.
