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Civilization: The Way We Live Now

by William A Ewing and Holly Roussell (Thames & Hudson)

In this ambitious work, author, lecturer and curator William A Ewing and China-based curator and art historian Holly Roussell set out to uncover how contemporary art photographers approach the astounding complexities of modern civilisation. More than 400 images have been selected from 140 eminent photographers, including Cindy Sherman, Edward Burtynsky and Walter Niedermayr, with a number of images never before published or exhibited.

In his illuminating and thought-provoking essay, Ewing charts the rise of hypermodernity and reminds us that while we frequently celebrate the individual, we increasingly live a collective life. He itemises dystopian realities alongside mankind’s unprecedented power for progress and the greater good, and the images that follow — spanning the critical, neutral, celebratory, epic and intimate — illustrate his points.

Accompanied by short texts,