A New Horizon in Photocinema – Photographer James Perolls and a Tale of Fantasy
British photographer James Perolls is known for his beautifully staged photography that evokes scenes from a film. Alongside his work for major fashion magazines and brands, he has self-published three photobooks as personal projects.
His latest work shares with his previous books the style of film stills and a plot-driven narrative, yet it marks a decisive shift in direction, resulting in a bold and challenging publication.
“Decaying with the Speed of Spring” (self-published, 2025)
Perolls suffered for seven years from depersonalisation–derealisation disorder (DPDR), a condition often triggered by severe stress or trauma, which causes the sufferer to feel as if observing themselves from the outside. Battling through the confusion, he gradually moved towards recovery — a process that deeply influenced his worldview and artistic expression.
“During that time, I felt as though I was watching myself from the outside, seeing multiple versions of myself. It was a highly disorientating experience — dreamlike, detached from reality. The recovery process was long and difficult, but I learnt that ‘facing things head-on is what leads to growth.’” (From the artist’s statement)
The book unfolds a story rooted in this personal experience.
The protagonist, played by model Xiaoqiao Wang, journeys through a mysterious world—a stately home set amidst grasslands, forests, and coastal landscapes—encountering their own “doubles” along the way. This protagonist is an alter ego of Perolls himself, and these meetings with doubles are acts of confronting fragments of the self.
The emblematic “double” scenes are created through composite photography, digitally merging multiple images shot on film. The meticulous calculations of composition and light in these photographs reveal Perolls’ exceptional technical skill and focus as a photographer.
Illustration plays a significant role in reinforcing the world of the narrative. Drawings appear in scenes where characters are depicted making art, and paintings hanging on the mansion’s walls serve as portals between the photographic and illustrated realms, shuttling the reader between two layers of fantasy. Turning the pages, one gradually steps away from reality and finds themselves lost within the work’s world.
The cream-coloured cloth cover further acts as an entryway into this realm, as if it had sprung straight out of the mansion in the story. The book itself immediately immerses the reader in the fictional world.
Many times in the history of the photobook, we have revisited painterly or literary narrative approaches. Yet few works have achieved such a truly “cinematic” form of storytelling with the level of structural command and photographic skill found here.
By “cinematic storytelling”, it means something distinct: while painterly approaches invest a single image and the imagination around it with narrative, and literary approaches borrow structural or stylistic devices from literature to build sequences, Perolls’ cinematic approach is rooted in the visual language and continuity that emerged after the advent of moving-image media.
His commitment remains with photography, not film. The physical act of turning a page, along with the presence of visual breaks and space, produces a unique stillness and afterglow unlike anything in cinema.
His two earlier publications foregrounded fashion photography elements, leaving the impression of a brochure for a non-existent film. In this work, however, he has moved beyond that, arriving at a cinematic expression possible only through photography. The intensity and conviction come from transforming deeply personal experience into art.
“We all carry multiple versions of ourselves within us. Some we accept, others we push away. This book is about revisiting them all, letting go of what must be let go, allowing space for growth — and thus being able to move forward.” (From the artist’s statement)
Just as photography once imitated painting, Perolls is not imitating film with photographs. In this book, photography, narrative, and book design are integrated at the highest level, each enhancing the other, resulting in one of the most accomplished works of his career.
True to his word, he has now stepped into a new creative horizon.
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Article by Yukihito Kono (7 August 2025)
Title: Decaying with the speed of spring
Artist: James Perolls
Publisher: Self-published, May 2025
Format: Linen hardcover
Size: 300 × 255 mm
Pages: 108
Language: English
Edition: Limited edition of 500 copies, hand-numbered
Price: ¥9,400
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