Under Penalty of Perjury – a signed statement, sworn to be true by the signer, that will make the signer guilty of the crime of perjury if the statement is shown to be materially false – that is Ari Marcopoulos, ironically titled, latest compelling mix of new and old images, a collection of his works like you have never experienced before. The book is published by Nieves for the exhibition Under Penalty of Perjury at Someday Gallery in Melbourne, where Ari’s works are shown for the first time as large scale black and white photocopied prints on paper.

Ari’s long-standing Zines collaboration with Nieves and his choice of using xeroxed reproductions for the exhibition have made it a natural step to produce this new book together. It comes with two different covers and is published in an edition of 200 copies

The title’s selection, so pretentiously official and somehow scary in his declaration of control, is deliberately in opposition with the informality and freedom of the subject matter portrayed, such as the documentation of private moments within the everyday lives of his family and friends. On the other side, the viewer doesn’t have to be fooled by the images’ intentional raw quality, which may be mistakenly considered as quick snapshots, whereas key to Ari’s most delicate and personal photographs is his ability to controlling the light, giving them that incandescent quietness that is so representative of his style.