In 1969, a groundbreaking photographic initiative was conceived in the US. Its goal: to assess the state of the nation. What does it look like today?

From children to newlyweds, families to those living alone, photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten takes the temperature of a nation adapting to crisis.

The United Nations cite climate change as the defining crisis of our time. This year, designers and galleries are coming together to find ways to help.

The word “photosynthesis” translates as “a putting together of light.” Roosmarijn Pallandt’s COP26 sound sculpture delves into this phenomenon.

What happens when art and fashion collide? Arthena Maxx Lukmann’s creations rewrite the narrative of unwanted fast fashion garments.

The Light and Space movement continues to offer absorbing and mind-expanding spectacles 50 years after its emergence from California.

British Art Show 9 is travelling across the UK, exploring themes of healing and reparative history through new works by contemporary artists.

2022 is set to be filled with exciting and thought-provoking exhibitions. This is our snapshot of what to look out for over the next six months.

Thomas Witzke is a German painter, photographer and digital artist. He focuses on the narrative aspect of colour; this is perhaps best expressed in the L’art pour L’art series, in which the viewer is invited to explore rooms in museums and artists’ studios.

A new exhibition seeks to display Mary Ellen Mark’s significant contribution to the history of American documentary photography.

Here are six artists from the Aesthetica archives who draw on art history: destroying, reinventing and updating the records for 21st century audiences.

Tate Britain’s current exhibition spans Caribbean-British Art from the 1950s to today. It is the first display of its kind in a major national museum.

London Art Fair responds to themes of ecology, migration and political nationalism through the work of 14 contemporary British photographers.

The ethics of representation have never been more important, or more closely scrutinised. Whose stories can we tell, how and why?

Japanese video artist Shigeko Kubota once commented that: “in video’s reality, infinite variation becomes possible.” MoMA showcases her oeuvre.

Lauretta Suter’s characters interact with environments in unexpected ways – standing on chairs, hiding behind cushions or diving into boxes.

Art in the Plague Year is a testament to photography as a record, and also as an act of recovery. The online show presents 55 artists.

German artist Benedikt Partenheimer uses concept-led photography and subtle optical tricks to reveal the invisible effects of climate change.

Bright crimson balloons. Colourful gifts, tied with bows. Red velvet curtains and bright orange cocktails. Drawn from the Aesthetica Archives.

What have you been reading this year? Aesthetica rounds up its most-read online articles of 2021, from emerging artists to the latest book reviews.

In 2020, far from her own family in England, Laura Stevens observed an extended French family learning to live together amidst the pandemic.

“The freedom lets you create anything you can imagine.” Tobi Schnorpfeil’s 3D world is a place where the sun is always setting – full of potential.

Erik Paul is a California-based sign maker, graphic designer, painter, sculptor and engineer; the technical and creative aspects of printmaking are a particular passion. This approach has fuelled a varied, joyful career in which the experience in one medium has helped to inform another.

A new retrospective of work by photographer Imogen Cunningham explores her extraordinary range: from botanical studies to portraits.

LA-based Hugh Kretschmer’s characters inhabit altered realities, where everyday objects appear off-kilter and things are slightly askew.

Photography plays a significant role in highlighting environmental damage, which can be difficult to see, much less identify.

This year, Aesthetica marked its 100th issue. To celebrate, we’re looking back at 2021 through the lens of our most recent cover photographers.

“My ambition is, in a sense, to make you see a little bit more tomorrow than you saw today.” A new show brings the minimalist spirit of Robert Irwin to Berlin.

BIENALSUR – the International Biennial of Contemporary Art of the South – creates a network of associative collaboration around the globe.

Thomas Demand’s work may, at first glance, appear to show empty, mundane interiors. These are, in fact, highly politically charged locations.

New Era brings together the many strands of American artist Doug Aitken’s creative output from the 1990s to the present day.

John Madu plays with time. He is best known for bright figurative paintings: symbolic portraits which look to the past, present and future.

Anna Huix’s works are bright, energetic and full of motion. Figures twist, bend and stretch – creating unexpected shapes and silhouettes.

Patrick Wack’s new monograph, DUST, explores whether China’s 21st century push westward mirrors events in America 200 years ago.

Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta are interested in using light and technology to refresh audiences’ ideas of the natural world.

Exploded paintings. Shattered flowers. Fragmented images. In a new series, Ori Gersht draws on postcards from renowned galleries worldwide.

This festive season, London is aglow with immersive and interactive artworks: from mist-filled rooms to giant tree-like sculptures.

10 gift ideas for culture lovers this season. 2021’s list includes gallery memberships, photobooks, subscriptions and camera accessories.

The winners have been announced for the 2022 award, including one winner in poetry and one in short fiction, each receiving £2,500 prize money.

Nearly 100 years since its inception, artists continue to be inspired by Surrealism. From dreamworlds to suburbia, these images show what it looks like today.

Søren Solkær captures the extraordinary phenomenon of starling murmurations, the mass collective swell and flight of thousands of birds.

This issue of Aesthetica is dedicated to perseverance, resilience and determination. In the face of anything, we have power to change.

Ingrid Weyland’s collage compositions tap into the age of Anthropocentrism, with human hands literally altering ecosystems from the inside out.

Harriet Moutsopoulos (aka Lexicon Love) creates digital collages that manipulate the origins of images, unsettling the viewer.

Karen Constine subverts the LA landscape using an infrared camera. Deserted suburban streets are transfigured into surreal planes.

David Benjamin Sherry’s large-format images, shot in hyperreal monochrome, depict sites that were threatened during Trump’s administration.

William Mullan and Andrea A. Trabucco-Campos offer highly stylised portraits of apples: the fruit that has long symbolised knowledge and power.

Kate Theo places characters in their own surreal worlds. Concentric circles hover like ellipses alongside balloons and golden cages.

The American South has diverse and complex histories. What happens when 16 photographers are invited to picture the region over 25 years?

Kevin Krautgartner’s series captures large-scale tulip agriculture from above. Aerial shots depict rows of flowers like striped barcodes.