“I am only interested in landscapes that show evidence of human influence, not in painterly images of beautiful scenery.” In his series from 2009, Yangtze –The Long River, which won the renowned Prix Pictet photo award, Kander documented the dramatic changes that have taken place along the banks of China’s most powerful river, creating images that exemplify the inexorably rise of the “Middle Kingdom” as a modern industrial nation. He movingly portrays how the traditions of a culture hundreds of years old are being destroyed in the name of progress and how this has had a convulsing effect on nature and individual human lives. “How can one be so rooted to the land and yet so ruthlessly redevelop or reinvent it?” asks Kander in summarizing his impressions of the social and economic consequences of modernization in China. Nadav Kander again presents us with the vulnerability of our world in his new series Dust, showing us the destruction incurred by human actions. Photographs of the restricted military zones of Priozersk and Kurtchatov portray areas where long-distance missiles and atomic weapons were detonated—sometimes in the midst of an unsuspecting population. In our Collector’s Edition the power of these stark facts is countered by poetic imagery. Conveying a great sense of peace, the subtle work Priozersk XIV (I was told she once held an oar) is characteristic of Kander, a master of quiet tonality.
