Civilization: The Way We Live Now

We hurtle together into the future at ever-increasing speed--or so it seems to the collective psyche. Perpetually evolving, morphing, building and demolishing, rethinking, reframing and reshaping the world around and ahead--and the people within it--an emerging, planetary-wide Civilization is our grand, global, collective endeavor. Never before in human history have so many people been so interconnected, and so interdependent.

With close to 500 images, many previously unpublished, this landmark publication takes stock of the material and spiritual cultures that make up "civilization." Ranging from the ordinary to the extraordinary, from our great collective achievements to our ruinous collective failings, Civilization: The Way We Live Now explores the complexity of contemporary civilization through the rich, nuanced language of photography.

Featuring images by some 140 photographers--from Reiner Riedler's families at leisure parks, Raimond Wouda's high schools, Wang Qingsong's Work, Work, Work and Cindy Sherman's Society Portraits, to Lauren Greenfield's displays of ostentatious wealth, Edward Burtynsky's oil fields, Pablo Lopez Luz's views on a sprawling contemporary megapolis, Thomas Struth's images of high technology, Xing Danwen's electronic wastelands and Taryn Simon's Contraband, Civilization draws together the threads of humankind's ever-changing, frenetic, collective life across the globe.

Visually epic, Civilization contains eight thematic chapters, each featuring powerful imagery and accompanied by provocative essays, quotes, and concise statements by the artists themselves.

Author: William A. Ewing, Holly Roussell
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Published: 11/06/2018
Pages: 352
Weight: 5.25lbs
Size: 11.90h x 9.90w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9780500021705

About the Author
Roussell, Holly: - Holly Roussell is an associate curator and art historian specializing in photography and contemporary art from Asia.

Ewing, William A.: - William A. Ewing is an author, lecturer, and curator of photography and former director of the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne. His many publications on photography include Edward Burtynsky: Essential Elements and Civilization.