A counter-intuitive, conceptual, and thoroughly entertaining take on the search for celebrity, hidden in plain sight.
In Presence, photographer Chris Buck dismantles the spectacle of celebrity by making them disappear. Each portrait contains a celebrity somewhere within the frame — hidden behind a door, crouched out of sight, or obscured entirely. They are physically there, but visually absent.
The work asks: in an age where fame is currency, does the knowledge of celebrity outweigh the need to see them? Is recognition dependent on visibility, or can presence exist purely as an idea? By withholding the subject, Presencetransforms our interaction with the photograph from passive consumption into active speculation.
To ensure the absence was believed — and not mistaken for a conceptual prank — every image is paired with a signed witness statement. The witnesses attest, in their own handwriting, that the celebrity was there, unseen. The testimony becomes part of the artwork: a negotiation between trust, proof, and desire.
One of the 10 best photo projects by CNN and one of the most notable photo books by PDN Magazine.
DESIGN APPROACH
The absence that defines the image
The design needed to disappear, letting the idea and images do the work. My role was to create a structure that quietly reinforced the concept without distracting from it. The solution was a deliberate, consistent rhythm:
Left page: a clean white field carrying the witness statement. The witness’s name is handwritten, the celebrity’s name is typeset, and the statement is closed with the witness’s signature at the bottom.
Right page: the corresponding photograph.
This repetition gave the book a steady visual heartbeat — the white witness page grounding each spread, while the changing handwritten names, celebrity identities, signatures, and images brought variation and intrigue. By keeping the design restrained, the book becomes a frame for the concept: an invisible star, a visible truth, and a constant reminder that presence can be felt, even when it can’t be seen.
BOOK DESIGN
Testify to the presence
I kept the design out-of-the-way to let the concept and the photos take center stage. This was translated into the design by creating a repeating cadence of a simple white left page with the witness statement where the name of the witness was written by hand, the celebrity name was typeset, and the witness signature written at the bottom. This provided a repeating visual structure that grounded the design by giving it the constant of the repeating witness statement with the uniqueness of the handwritten name, the signature of the witness, the celebrity name, and photograph changing in each layout.
Testify to the presence
