Not Niigata.

'Not Niigata' is a photo book from the American artist Andrew Phelps. It is, as stated in his foreword the story of '...not understanding Niigata'. This city in Central Japan is, like so many other places, defined by an enormous divide between the old and the new, and the artist's interest in the place lie '...within documenting this gap...', as he writes. But preconceptions are powerful. What you think you understand about somewhere might very well steer you towards misunderstanding it, he claims. Therefore the artist merely attempts to 'respond visually' to a place essentially alien to him. Thus the title becomes quite fitting. This witness of Niigata might rather be a witness of something that's 'Not Niigata'.