Objects, Memory, Heritage

John Edmonds’ solo exhibition as the winner of the Foam Paul Huf Award brings together intimate studio photographs and meticulous still lifes.

Atmospheric Compositions

Dina Furrer is a Dutch photographer and visual artist based in Tilburg. Her varied portfolio largely comprises still lifes and landscapes; richly detailed works show bold experimentation with colour. Inspiration comes from within the artist herself as well as nature and everyday life.

The Hyperreal Everyday

Plastic bags get caught in barbed wire, basketball hoops cast silhouettes, tree trunks glow in the darkness. These are images by Rickard Grönkvist.

Harmonious Flow

Gao Hong is an established artist based in China. He started painting using oil and in recent years his focus is the use of ink, in which traditional Chinese materials are combined with modern techniques. City and rural life, development and tradition, and survival and death are key themes.

Photo London 2022: 5 to See

Britain’s preeminent photography fair returns to Somerset House this month for its seventh edition, highlighting an array of galleries and publishers.

Northern Diary

Robbie Lawrence is best known for sensitive approaches to image-making and documentary: placing the human experience front and centre.

Forms of Abstraction

The word ‘abstract’ derives from the Latin abstractus, or ‘drawn away’. Today, lens-based artists continue to push the boundaries of the genre.

10 Questions with…
Larry Achiampong

Ahead of the Future Now Symposium 2022, we catch up with the award-winning artist, who will be discussing the question: “Who Controls History?”

A Multi-Layered Perspective

Lalla Essaydi’s work confronts myths of Orientalism – restaging 19th century paintings from the Western canon in large-scale colour photographs.

5 Exhibitions for Earth Day

From digital art to textiles, outdoor installations to aerial photography, these exhibitions reflect on life in the Anthropocene, envisioning potential futures.

Thread of Humanity

Aesthetica speaks to photographer Nadav Kander, who has produced some of the most mesmerising portrait and landscape images of recent times.

Colour and Creativity

Iswarya Venkatakrishnan is a self-described colour enthusiast – constructing unexpected, playful and humorous compositions out of paper.

Opportunities for Creatives:
Future Now 2022

We highlight five unmissable events at our symposium: from portfolio reviews with industry to talks about funding, art masterclasses and more.

Beyond the Curtain

Erik Johansson’s images fall, seamlessly, into the category of phantasm: bending and stretching reality through the folds of visual metaphor.

The Mystery of Pictures

Self-taught photographer Giorgia Bellotti reinterprets René Magritte’s thought-provoking imagery for a 21st century audience.

Interrogating History

The 2020-2022 winners of the Tokyo Contemporary Art Award explore complex historical events – pushing the boundaries of what art can be and do.

Unmissable Artist Talks:
Future Now 2022

This year’s symposium features unmissable talks from leading creatives. They will discuss topics from photography and video art to activism and history.

Choreographing Images

“One of the burdens of photography is that we think of it as a two dimensional medium.” A new Dayanita Singh retrospective opens in Berlin.

Perceptions of Space

A new exhibition acknowledges the shadow of serial lockdowns, showing how they have altered our perceptions of images and the wider world.

Spheres of Convenience

10 million tons of plastic are dumped into oceans annually, more than a truck load every minute. Vitra Design Museum brings these topics into focus.

Images, History and Memory

Diane Meyer photographed the length of the former Berlin Wall. From the city centre to suburbs and forests, she obscures the prints with hand-stitching.

Photographic Elegy

Ioanna Sakellaraki’s poignant photobook taps into humanity’s ongoing struggle for meaning, especially in the face of mortality and loss.

A Fresh Gaze

The nude is as old as art itself. A groundbreaking new exhibition at Fotografiska, New York, celebrates a female-identifying perspective on the genre.

Digital Trailblazers:
Talks at Future Now 2022

This year’s Aesthetica symposium taps into the relationship between digital art and the climate, whilst explaining the fundamentals of NFTs.

Natural Balance

In a new show, Vanessa Winship presents different shades of winter— from yellowing leaves on branches to snow-covered roads and frozen marshland.

Creative Regeneration

Barbican revolutionises the climate conversation, showcasing art as a speculative tool which can help us to bring about sustainable futures.

The Age of Immersion

The Light and Space movement emerged in the mid-20th century during technological optimism. How has it evolved with the rise of the digital age?

Human Stories:
The April/May Issue

The new print issue of Aesthetica is all about human stories, and how we must never give up in the face of adversity. Dive in to our preview.

Journey into Night

Jasper Goodall creates an ode to the evening in Twilight’s Path. Quietude is embraced, as themes of solitude and isolation come to the foreground.

Somewhat Otherworldly

Jan Prengel’s Plants from Space series showcases flowers as if they were priceless exhibits: oddities from an alternate universe.

Mirrored Geography

Murray Fredericks captures ethereal horizons on Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, an endorheic salt lake 700km north of Adelaide, Australia.

Satirising the Everyday

Olivia Locher highlights humanity’s unrealistic expectations, depicting daily regimes to comedic effect, where candles literally burn at both ends.

Beyond Aesthetics

Ulaş Kesebir and Merve Türkan work as a duo to redefine the parameters of fashion imagery, with bold colour schemes and alluring environments.

Rise of the Megacity

Michel Lamoller’s photographic reliefs highlight the alarming rate at which humanity is expanding, depicting high-rises as markers of infrastructure.

Personal and Political

Over 12 years, Gillian Laub produced a major documentary project in Montgomery County, Georgia, a series sparked by one written letter.

Moments of Serendipity

Andrea Lohmann’s compositions are inspired by the built environment: structures from the post- war period complemented by passing clouds.

Images in Flux

At the Royal Photographic Society exhibition, we find a moment to think about where we are headed, and how we feel about the destination.  

Atmospheric Still Life

Telephones hovering in mid-air. Half full glasses of water. Clouds reflected in pitch-dark rooms. Zane Priede is a self-taught photographer based in Riga.

The Aesthetica Art Prize 2022:
Shortlist Announced

Spanning the globe, these creatives address some of the most pressing issues facing us right now: climate crisis, inequality and new technology among them.

Meaning and Melancholy

Samantha Cavet focuses on “portraying the human abyss, loneliness and melancholic feelings,” often depicting lone figures within expansive landscapes.

Collaborative Documentary

In 2019, a United Nations report stated that single parents have been hardest hit by austerity in the UK. Polly Braden highlights their stories.

The Thrill of Colour

Colourful vines growing from gallery walls. Woven blobs reaching towards the ceiling. These are works by iconic textile artist Sheila Hicks.

Future Now 2022:
Programme Announced

Artists Larry Achiampong and Sutapa Biswas join photographers Poulomi Basu, Hannah Starkey and Jamie Hawkesworth at our annual symposium.

Visual Interpretation

“An artist makes art, but they are also a spectator of art,” says Elina Brotherus, best known for crafting self portraits steeped in visual history.

Exploratory Techniques

German artist Natalie Truchsess has an extensive background in analogue documentary,  landscape and portrait  photography. In her current work she uses abstract photographs to explore the depiction of the subliminal, the unspeakable and the ephemeral.

Imagined Structures

Adriana Mora constructs 3D buildings within idyllic waterscapes. The visual language of Brutalism is counterpointed with memories of childhood.

Curating Reality

Clarissa Bonet pushes beyond the traditions of candid photography: producing staged works that complicate notions of representation and reality.

Global Creativity

It’s estimated that we will take 1.5 trillion images worldwide in 2022. The Sony World Photography Awards Open shortlist offers a snapshot of this.

Expanded Photography:
Collage and Cut Outs

Here are five artists who offer a fresh take on the collage tradition: cutting, pasting, crumpling and overlaying to create new configurations.

In the Moment

“My favourite moments are those which create coincidences and contradictions in the city,” says Berlin-based urban photographer Andrea Lohmann.