HANATABA - PHOTO BOOK

Publisher: Sigma Foundation
Photographer: Sølve Sundsbø
Art direction and design: Greger Ulf Nilson
Pages: 104 pages
ISBN: 978-4-911681-00-8
Size: 32.8x20.3x1.2 cm

New flowers that don’t exist have come to life.
Made up of flowers that are no longer alive.
Each act of creation requires a willingness to dismantle the old.
The book is about building anew but also about understanding and reshaping what has come before.
—Sølve Sundsbø

ABOUT

Sølve Sundsbø

Born in Norway and based in London, photographer Sølve Sundsbø is internationally acclaimed for his pioneering approach to photography and film. Seamlessly blending cutting-edge technology with a refined artistic sensibility, Sundsbø transforms everyday subjects into extraordinary visual experiences, continuously expanding the boundaries of contemporary image-making.
In his latest work, HANATABA, Sundsbø explores the concept of “sublimely beautiful forms of life – which don’t exist.” Using a vast archive of his own flower photographs, he developed a custom AI program to generate entirely new, otherworldly floral creations—images of flowers that have never existed in reality. Each piece is accompanied by a fictitious Latin botanical name generated by the AI, resulting in a poetic compendium that resembles a field guide to flora from another realm.
A dialogue between human creativity and artificial intelligence, HANATABA casts new light on the relationship between art and technology, marking a significant milestone in Sølve Sundsbø’s ongoing exploration of visual expression.