Jayson Sablan’s Second Skin joins Ephemere’s 270-photo project

By Olivia Hart

Come What May, a group publication and exhibition by the Tokyo-based photography platform Ephemere, contains 270 curated photographs by 90 artists selected through an international open call, including Saipan photographer Jayson Sablan.

That gives three photographs per artist on average, a neat fit for a project built around triptychs. Ephemere asked photographers to treat three images as a cohesive narrative, sequence or visual story. The premise extends this year’s festival theme, “Triplicities,” which considers how individual images connect to create something greater than the sum of their parts.

What does Sablan’s Second Skin show?

Within that structure, Sablan presents Second Skin, a sequence of three carefully connected photographs about individuals who embrace their true identities without apology. The series frames its aim as the desire “to be seen and accepted for who we truly are.” Ephemere describes the work as both exploration and celebration.

The announcement does not identify the sitters or detail the order, setting or content of the individual frames. That omission limits what can responsibly be said about the pictures, though it leaves the series’ stated proposition intact.

The curatorial logic is clear. Rather than use three pictures as decorative neighbours, Sablan organises them around a shared demand for recognition. According to the release, the photographs build a larger narrative through their relationship, turning the desire to be seen and accepted into a connective structure.

His attention also extends to the conditions of making. Sablan thanked the people in Second Skin for their trust, openness and willingness to share part of themselves. He also credited Asia Camacho Hilario for giving him the opportunity to photograph them and make images carrying personal meaning.

The emphasis on trust and participation gives the series a process-centred context; it does not replace the need to judge the photographs themselves. That distinction is useful editorial discipline, especially because the announcement makes the ethical premise easier to assess than the pictures.

What does the open call change?

Sablan’s selection came through Ephemere’s international open call, placing his contribution within a group presentation rather than a solo show. The 90 artists come from around the world, and the publication uses their 270 images to examine sequence, rhythm and narrative structure across practices.

Within this anthology, the triptych functions as an editorial unit rather than a stand-alone picture. With Sablan’s three-part sequence placed among 90 artists’ works, coherence becomes a comparative test, not a private claim.

The risk is familiar: three parts can merely rhyme rather than cohere. Whether Second Skin clears that test cannot be settled from the announcement, which supplies no installation views or reproduction details.

Ephemere describes itself as a platform dedicated to meaningful photography through publications, exhibitions and dialogue. Come What May therefore places the 270-picture book and group exhibition inside the same institutional frame, with dialogue named as a third form of work rather than an afterthought.

Sablan described his inclusion as “an honor to be part of a project that creates space for meaningful visual storytelling and artistic dialogue,” and thanked founder Anne Murayama and everyone involved.

For Sablan, the benefit was participation in an international community of photographers whose perspectives and stories reflect the many ways people experience and understand the world. His thanks to Murayama and the wider group placed the Saipan photographer’s contribution inside a collaborative project, not a lone exercise.

What can readers see next?

The publication is available for purchase through Ephemere’s website, ephemere.tokyo, alongside the platform’s other publications. No price is given, and the announcement identifies Ephemere as Tokyo-based but names no curator, exhibition venue or opening and closing dates.

A group show of 270 photographs from 90 artists needs a map, a date and a scale before it can become a visit rather than a title. Readers can begin with the book, where the triptych form and Sablan’s account of trust, identity and acceptance meet on the page.

The next test is whether the photographs sustain the premise in print and on the wall, and whether Ephemere supplies the missing details needed to bring the exhibition into view.