- Title: Shanghai
- Artist: Alec Aarons
- Designer: Alec Aarons
- Editor: Alec Aarons
- Printer: Ex Why Zed, UK
- Publication date and place: February 2017 / Leeds, UK
- Edition: 80
- Format, binding: Softcover, perfect bound
- Size: 21 x 15 cm
- Number of pages and images: 28 pages / 50 images
- Type of printing and paper: Digital/uncoated 120gsm
- Retail price: £10
Book description:As an outsider, being exposed to the unfamiliar space of Shanghai allowed a new perspective to take shape; an appreciation of history and its place in the ever-changing nature of the constructed environment. Observations I gained are presented as a vernacular document of space, those that are relentlessly developing and few others which preserve ancient culture, interweaving themselves through cold and repetitive structures. The future of these spaces is uncertain, the fragility of history will always fall victim to the weight of modernity. However, through the collection of photographs, I set out to archive a pre-developed civilisation as well as to observe the cities hunger for expansion through observing at an intimate distance. At the time of making the work the preparations for the 2017 Chinese New Year were underway, inviting thought on the relevance of preserving the present day; acknowledging its place in the timeline of the city.