The Riso Book

The Riso Book is a selection of books printed in risograph, curated by the Atelier Tatanka studio as part of the PhotoBook Mania 2026 series.

Born in Japan in the 1980s on the initiative of RISO Kagaku Corporation, the risography (from japanese rice = ideal) is a printing technique that combines some principles of screen printing with the speed and automation of offset printing. Risograph duplicators use semi-transparent soybean oil-based inks, which are printed one at a time and can be layered to create new color combinations, producing a very textured, vivid-toned print.

Thanks to its low cost and the ability to produce medium-high print runs, over the years Risograph has become a particularly popular tool in independent publishing and the production of artist's books. While it was initially associated primarily with illustration and graphics, more and more artists and designers have explored its possibilities in photography, simulating CMYK four-color process with risograph inks or reinterpreting the image through new color decompositions, the superposition of screens, and different color combinations, giving rise to unprecedented results.

This selection brings together publications from various European studios and publishing houses, selected by looking not only at the photographic content, but also at the book in its design and material dimension. Binding, paper, materials, finishes and graphic choices in fact contribute to the definition of each edition. The selection therefore includes, alongside photobooks, artist books in a broader sense and publications that combine risograph printing with other printing techniques.

More than an exhaustive overview, The Riso Book aims to be a small exploration of the possibilities that emerge when photography, editorial design, and risograph printing meet: a territory in which the image is not only reproduced, but becomes an integral part of the material and construction of the book.

Atelier Tatanka is a graphic design and risograph printing studio based in Bologna. Since 2018, the atelier has been involved in editorial, artistic, and educational projects, with a particular focus on printed matter, participatory processes, and self-production.