Henry Wessel

Waikiki, one of Honolulus most famous neighbourhoods, had already become a crowded tourist destination when Wessel photographed there in the late seventies and early eighties. This book contains Wessels edit of these pictures and is a record of American leisure at this time: of surf, sand and inexhaustible pleasure-seekers. Yet Wessel equally explores the contradictions of Waikiki concrete hotels invading pristine beaches, culture encroaching on nature. Despite all the fun in the sun, Wessels subjects are often distanced and dissatisfied, suggesting an underlying unease.