Mpagi Sepuya, Paul: Focus. Desire.

In his portraits and studio photographs, the American artist and photographer Paul Mpagi Sepuya (born 1982) blends sensual intimacy with visual precision. Capturing intimate encounters with friends-cum-collaborators, Sepuya scrupulously constructs compositions that insist on queer and Black subjectivity in photography. Through the deliberate placement of mirrors, fabrics and studio props, Sepuya stages a seductive interplay of exposure and concealment as he engages bodies and gazes in a dynamic web of relations—reflected, refracted, fragmented, multiplied and woven into new configurations. By laying bare the act of photographing, Sepuya pulls viewers into the complex dynamics of looking and desire, which he continually negotiates and subtly shifts. This exhibition catalogue marks the first standalone publication on the artist in the German-speaking world.

Paul Mpagi Sepuya (b. 1982, San Bernardino, CA) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Doris Gassert is a media scholar and research curator at the Fotomuseum Winterthur. Stefan Gronert is an art historian and curator of photography and media at the Sprengel Museum Hannover. Christopher A. Nixon is a philosopher, comparative literature scholar, and independent curator.

Title: Paul Mpagi Sepuya: Focus Desire
Publisher, Year: Spector Books, 2026
Photographer: Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Editor: Doris Gassert, Stefan Gronert, Christopher A. Nixon, Sprengel Museum Hannover
Designer: Quang Nguyen
Co-publisher: Fotomuseum Winterthur
Format: Thread-sewn softcover
Size: 108 pages, 230 × 320 mm
Language: English
ISBN: 978-3-95905-976-3