The Story
The Shop is the online space where Alaïa Fonk’s visual worlds take physical form.
Working across photography, publishing and design, Alaïa builds complete visual universes rather than standalone products. Her practice is rooted in storytelling, materiality and process — allowing ideas to unfold slowly and intentionally.
Through books, zines, fine art prints and objects, these worlds are collected, edited and released in limited editions. Each piece belongs to a larger body of work, connected by image, memory and atmosphere rather than trends or seasons.
All publications and objects are conceived, curated and produced with care. Nothing is mass-produced. Quantities are limited, materials are considered, and each release is given the time it requires.
The Shop functions as both a store and an evolving archive — a place where finished works live alongside past editions, offering insight into the ongoing process behind them.
Based between studios, cities and stories, Alaïa’s work moves between the personal and the cinematic, the intimate and the constructed. The Shop exists as an extension of that practice: a space for holding worlds, not rushing them.
UNFOLDING 舒展
Unfolding is Alaïa Fonk’s second photography series about transformation, tension, and the space in between. It contrasts the pressure to appear “put together” with the messy inner reality of change, using butterfly wings, layered still lifes, and symbolic objects. The project was shaped by her time in China, where distance and unfamiliarity shifted how she saw both the world and her own work.
Backstories. the book.
The (debut) self-published coffee table book of Alaïa Fonk. A story about not fitting in. About dreams, and fantasies. Backstories is about being shy, fearing rejection, and ultimately finding your way through. Backstories is not just one thing. It is raw and intimate, yet playful and light – it’s not as deep as you think.
With Backstories, Alaïa Fonk uses the female body to let you into her world. Hoping you find a piece of yours.
Alaïa has exhibited with Backstories in both Amsterdam and Curaçao. Contact for print sales.
