Strands of Color

PHOTO COURTESY OF KATHY LO

“The book is loosely based on the German fable of Faust, in which the main character, Aris, is bored with his life, and sells his soul to the devil to get the girl of his dreams,” photographer Kathy Lo explains of her book X, the second publishing foray from New York- and Japan-based Salon Shizen. With its dreamy washes of color and stark settings, the oversized tome tells the story of young love with modern edge—like, say, when object of obsession Ashley Smith runs through a graveyard. “The images seek to capture the naive innocence of youth by telling as much of the story as possible with minimal narrative,” Lo says. Using hair color as a signal to mark the events to come—a dark wall of locks hearkens evil—the moody work adds weight to the light associations with hair.