Lee $cratch Perry Black Ark (Preview)

Just out in Issue no.264 of Aperture magazine is my capsule review of the photobook Lee Scratch Perry Black Ark (Edition Patrick Frey, 2026), a visual inventory of what remains of the producer’s legendary Kingston studio. To read the review, see the print and digital versions of Aperture. I've posted an altered and extended cut for subscribers on Substack, of which here is a preview.Rarely has a single space been so productive in such a short span of time as Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Black Ark. Here, in a studio compound located in the front garden of his family home at 5 Cardiff Crescent, Washington Gardens, Kingston, Perry produced hundreds, if not thousands of records, released and unreleased. Perry’s ear for eccentric sound effects and mysterious production techniques on basic electronic equipment opened up hitherto unknown dimensions in what musicians would play around him, swathed in clouds of ganja smoke, as Perry mixed, exhorted, encouraged, blessed proceedings with Bible verses…