Henry Wessel – Waikiki

Waikiki, one of Honolulu’s most famous neighbourhoods, had already become a crowded tourist destination when Wessel (*1942) photographed there in the late seventies and early eighties. This book contains Wessel’s 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, Wessel’s subjects are often distanced and dissatisfied, suggesting an underlying unease.