Kim Jakobsen Tô, Cedar Dreams, 2026

Cedar Dreams, a new photography book by Norwegian–Vietnamese artist Kim Jakobsen Tô, will be published by Queer Street Press in June 2026.

Shot between 2021 and 2026, while Jakobsen Tô was living in Mexico City, the series constitutes a document of the artist’s personal relationships and tenderly conveys his unique, naturalistic approach to photography. Containing 60 duotone plates, the publication captures subjects from Jakobsen Tô’s queer and spiritual communities – friends, lovers, associates, collaborators and mentors – alongside attentive, sweeping landscapes and intimate depictions of personal objects imbued with humility and compassion.

Cedar Dreams is the result of a committed two-year collaboration between the publishers Queer Street Press and Jakobsen Tô. ‘Cedar’ refers to the sacred tree whose leaves are burned in the Four Tobacco ceremony, a Native American ritual, while ‘Dreams’, as Mexican writer Juan Pablo Ramos notes, ‘alludes not only to the oneiric nature of the images but also to hope, longing and a visionary state in which ancient wisdom can be channelled.’ A new essay, ‘Scenes from a Lightwell’, by Ramos accompanies the photographs, examining Jakobsen Tô’s relationship to home and community, alongside a concrete poem, ‘Swallowing Rain’, by Diego Gerard Morrison. 

‘Kim Jakobsen Tô’s photographs convey intimacy through earned trust rather than through detached or casual observation. Documenting those who resonate with him on a personal level, his work is an act of unprejudiced love, inspired by the possibility of revealing his subject’s inner self – if only for an instant.’
– Juan Pablo Ramos

Kim Jakobsen Tô is a Norwegian-Vietnamese artist based in Oslo, Norway. His practice has evolved at the intersection of diverse cultural perspectives, taking an interdisciplinary approach encompassing photography, sculpture, installation and performance. Jakobsen Tô’s work explores the relationship between personal and collective histories, grounded in his father’s experience as a boat refugee, his own queer identity and spiritual inquiry. With a particular interest in communities that exist on the margins of society, his photography functions both as archive and commentary, capturing fleeting moments within subcultures. He is interested in how communities form, evolve and maintain distinct identities in an increasingly homogenised world.