After 6 months working on this book project, putting together the images representing the concept I’d imagined in my head for many years before, the books have finally been delivered to me this morning. I’m over the moon to be able to hold a copy in my hands and turn those pages matt artpaper. Nothing feels that good than a freshly printed photobook, and one of your very own. This is a very personal project which has taken over 10 years in the making. The first print run is limited to 100 copies only and individually numbered.
LINK Pre-orders are taken now for personal collection from me in Kuala Lumpur / PJ from on 12, 13, 14 and 15 May, 2026. (support local artists!). Click link for payment info. Order your copy today and receive a 8×10 inch print from the book. Price : RM150.00
International orders : please contact me for postage and shipping costs.
Copies will be available for purchase at Zontiga KL, GMBB, 2 Jalan Robertson, 50150 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from mid May. Each copy is numbered and signed, and the fiirst 30 orders also receive a 8×10 inch print of my favourite images from the book.
Thank you once again toBenedetta Donato who totally understood the my project deeply and for your illuminating introduction. Grazie mille!
Curated images by festival co-director Naoko Ohta from the project will be exhibited in a solo exhibition at the 2026 Karuizawa Foto Festival in Nagano, Japan from 1 – 31 May.
NID:SIZE:699 kB
What is Symbolik about?
We often take semiotics for granted – as if it were second nature to our existence.
We constantly communicate through signs and symbols to transmit our feelings and desires in popular culture. I have been interested in this aspect of semiosis through the photographic image. Making meaning of our world through visual cues and subtle cultural symbolism is a vital form of communication without linguistics.
Symbology is part of the overall lingua franca of communication through sight, or the visual arts and includes the study of expression likeness, allegory and metaphorical perception.
Signs and Symbols, Motifs and Meanings
I first developed the concept of Symbolik having walked the ancients streets in Rome 2008. In an alley close to the Pantheon, I came across chiselled into a stone wall were symbols and words in Latin. Possibly made hundreds of years before by an ancient graffiti artist. The idea remained in my head as I pondered who and why, and what were the meaning of the words. To Romans who live there today, these etches are a common encounter in a city steeped in history known as a living museum, the Eternal City. To a casual visitor like myself, it was tremendously significant and even poignant that symbols spanning centuries could still be read and interpreted to give meaning and direction, perhaps dulled by the passage of time, but still significant, and as a philosophical question which is deeply personal.
Over the years, I realised that every person is drawn and react to symbols differently even if their meanings are clearly unambiguous. I pondered why this is so. Could it be that their meanings and understandings lack precision or could it actually be the interpretation of them that is flawed. I concluded that cultural upbringing and self-determination might explain this, communal reactions and societal conformations are other possibilities.
Every viewer will react differently and in varying degrees to my images. They do not provide answers or explanations, nor invoke or provoke responses. However I hope and expect some viewers may react emotively, perhaps once the motifs are embedded into their mind’s eye, perhaps at a later stage, if not immediately, and a realisation is made. Perhaps a repressed thought, a lost feeling, a suppressed memory may rise to the fore. The actual meanings don’t really matter in Symbolik. Unlike reading a book from chapter to chapter to discover a narrative, my images do not ‘unfold’ or reveal one, unless you are attuned to see the world as I do – a haphazardly organised chaotic mess – visually stimulating, if you want it to be. A solipsistic existence. Enjoy!
Here’s an excerpt from the Introduction text by Benedetta Donato :
“In Steven Lee’s visual universe, photography ceases to be a mere documentation of reality and instead becomes pure semiosis – a complex operation of decoding the world through the lens. With his new project, Symbolik, the photographer – already a central figure on the international stage and a promoter of numerous cultural initiatives – embarks on a deep incursion into the ontology of the sign. The title itself, with that Latin “k”; evoking universal antiquity and an almost academic rigor, warns us that we are not facing a linear narrative or a geographic reportage, but a constellation of waypoints: necessary points of reference for an inner navigation through the chaos of the visible.”
“As Lee himself emphasises in his introductory reflections, semiotics is often taken for granted, as if it were a second nature to human existence. Yet, we constantly communicate through symbols to transmit desires and sensations. In an era saturated with a pornography of pain and photographic chronicles that often slip into the self-celebration of the witness, Lee chooses the path of abstraction and silence. His work belongs to a noble lineage of Surrealist descent: one can detect echoes of Man Ray’s pure forms, the almost sculptural and symbolic precision of Ralph Gibson – his ideal mentor – and Lee Miller’s ability to transform everyday objects into enigmas.”
“The project is rooted in a decade-long archive, a journey through various locations – from Rome to Florence, from Paris to Tuscany, and as far as Japan – yet it never falls into the trap of a travel diary or nostalgic memory. Lee does not document places to say “I was here”; he captures the essence of a visual culture layered over centuries. His images of eroded architecture, material textures, and seemingly insignificant details are visual cues that reveal their meaning only to those willing to dig beneath the surface of the obvious, recognising that beauty often resides in the trace – in the texture of passing time.”
“The beating heart of Symbolik lies in the structure of the diptych, understood not as a simple juxtaposition, but as a dialectical synthesis. Lee does not just place two photos side by side; he creates a third image, a synthetic identity born from the clash, connection, or embrace of two shots distant in time and space. It is a practice of conceptual editing that transforms the book into a dynamic object, where meaning is not locked within the frame but flows through the white space between the pages.”
“Ultimately, Symbolik challenges us to slow down our visual pulse. In a world that consumes images at the speed of an infinite scroll, Lee forces us to stop before a fragment of a wall, a reflection on glass, or a body of stone. He teaches us that every vision is an ethical choice and every juxtaposition is an act of semantic creation. This book is proof that photography, when it renounces the claim of reportage to embrace the path of the symbol, becomes the only language capable of speaking directly to the conscience, transcending every geographical barrier. It is an invitation to recognise those signals – the waypoints – that, while remaining before our eyes every day, wait only for an attentive gaze to reveal the profound meaning of our shared human journey.”
More than the pursuit of the perfect image, it is an obsession to see more, understand more, and encounter more.
Photography is a journey to discover what exists, and can exist, if we see with our hearts and feel with our minds. Writers write and artists paint, starting with a blank canvas. With photography, the difference is subtle. We start with a canvas that is already full of life and colour. It is as real as it gets. Photography, by its very definition, cannot exist without light as there will be nothing to photograph.
I’ve immersed my entire adult life in this magic light trick, and now I take a step back. Long flights and drives allow me to think. Having just completed co-organising a third photo festival, even if it’s a minor one in comparison to others I’ve been to, I cherish the high moments and dread the lows. But there is no middle ground. It comes as a package deal.
The connections I’ve made in the name of photography over the past years have been fulfilling and rewarding. It has brought me to far flung places and closer ones to, meeting incredibly talented artists and wonderful people who are open minded and dedicated to the practice.
I’ve reviewed countless portfolios and continue to do so, and nominated artists to international awards. The takeaway I’ve learnt from all this is, there are stories to be told. Every photographer wants to tell a story. Even if it’s just one incredible image, without a story the image just hangs on the wall soulless.
The audiences to these are picky and may not be all too appreciative, however. It is very easy to overlook and brush less striking work aside and go for the visually popular images. After all, today’s society prefers repetitive and spoon-fed visuals that are easy to understand, aesthetically pleasing and requires no thinking. We like ‘hi-fi’ photography, where bass and treble are set to the maximum, loosing the subtleties and nuances in between.
I started KLPA because I am interested in the face and how every portrait is a reflection not only of the sitter, but the photographer as well. We just celebrated the 15th back-to-back edition of the KLPA and therein lies a dilemma. Is interest waning? At times I feel a responsibility towards the photo communities, to its followers, and to the past winners, to retain KLPA’s vision and standards, year in and year out. This is not easy to maintain. I have good years and lesser ones. Ebbs and flows. 2023 was a good year. The finalists received record worldwide views. But there is a constant fear that KLPA is not being sufficiently visible, especially locally. Perhaps it’s just my expectations on what I would have liked it to become.
Similarly as festival organisers, do we alienate certain interest groups to the benefit of others? Or do we keep to our mission and yet be inclusive. Like an ocean liner, once the course is charted, we set sail, avoiding the icebergs along the way. And the people we cater to are the paying passengers. Or do we pick up new passengers along the way and explore new destinations?
I photograph less nowadays. Perhaps I have no stories to tell, yet I have unfinished projects that need to be completed and these are being put off year after year. There are always stories to tell.
After 2 years of Covid restrictions, Europe’s largest street party, the Nottinghill Carnival made a comeback appearance on the streets of West London, over the last Bank Holiday weekend in the UK. I went around 10am on the ‘Family Day’ Sunday, walking up the parade route in reverse which I always do, so as to encounter the bands and performers as they head out from the assembly point on Kensal Rise. It was a warm sunny day, but noticeable cooler than the heatwave of a few weeks earlier, which reached 35 – 40c. It was only 23c that morning but the sun was shining and it felt hotter, due to the fast-paced dodge-walking amongst tightly packed crowds and performers.
Family Day means fewer or no big costume floats, the kind that rivals the best of Rio, those are reserved for tomorrow, Monday. Nevertheless, there are plenty of sights and sounds to saviour as well as Caribbean street food, rum punch and beer.
I don’t think I got any ‘gems’ photographically this year as I didn’t stay on long enough after a quick lunch of jerk chicken and rice, but it was good to see visitors from all over the world back in London having a good time again.
It’s Sunday and where I live it’s now Tier 2 of the latest Covid-designated level of restrictions. Tier 1 being Medium risk, 2 meaning High and Tier 3 is the absolutely no mingling stay home, pub-closing variety. Anyway the scientists (who listen to scientists anymore, I wonder) say all these tiers are confusing and pointless, since the virus cannot read and they fly around in the boundary-less air with the wind, and they will come and infect you whether you are drinking in the pub, exercising in the gym or do sweaty yoga unless you are in Westminster and your name is Dominic or so they say.
But I digress. Here are some pictures of KL central, from way back, yes in 2008, when I was hoping to be a successful ‘street’ photographer (don’t we all) since almost every photowalk that has ever been organised that I recall always starts in Petaling Street and teaches street photography.
Has it changed? I wonder where these people are today, their faces frozen in time. Do you recognise them, it would surely be interesting to know. Apologies for the garish oversaturated colours, but like sepia and spot colouring, it was in trend back then. I’m more into muted tones now.
I seriously think there were 1 million people trying to get in by the time made my way out of the carnival route at 3pm. So happen it was the hottest ever recorded Bank Holiday weekend in the UK at over 34C, and that also brought out the crowds.
Shot with the little Ricoh GR Digital with daylight flash and a slide film filter. Great little camera.
Been out at Victoria Tower Gardens by the Houses of Parliament on this bright and chilly Sunday afternoon with Kipper in tow to join the many Stop Brexit supporters and their pets at the second Wooferendum gathering. Barking mad, you might say, but the organisers have a point. If the UK leaves the EU on 29 March without a deal, any deal, then not only the population, but dogs who frequently travel to and from the continent will have to go through more checks and red-tape, vet medicines may increase in price, and the staffing of veterinary surgeries may be impacted also. Afterall, dogs are man’s best friends and we need to take care of them.
Encountered an anti-fascism and anti-racism rally in Central London this afternoon. There seems to be a protest of some sort every weekend in this city and this weekend is no different. Division and hate are so prevalent in many societies today, from East to West it seems like they are inherent in the very being of humankind. We just commemorated Armistice Day last weekend, a stark reminder of what man can do to each other.
explorenation.net ~ photography posts, workshops, writings and thoughts by Steven V-L Lee 
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