Dust

by Nadav Kander (Photographer), Will Self (Contributor)

Nadav Kander (born 1961) is a recipient of the renowned Prix Pictet and one of today's most successful photographers. Upon learning of the existence of two "closed" cities on the border between Kazakhstan and Russia, he decided to visit them. For Dust he photographed the desolated landscapes of the Aral Sea and the restricted military zones of Priozersk and Kurtchatov, which did not appear on any map until well after the end of the Cold War. Long-distance missiles were secretly tested in Priozersk, and hundreds of atomic bombs were detonated in the so-called Polygon near Kurchatov, until the program ended in 1989. The bombs were exploded in a remote but still populated area, and covert studies were made of the effects of the radiation on the unsuspecting inhabitants. Kander describes how the ticking of the Geiger counter on his belt while he photographed served as a foil against the aesthetic allure of the ruins.

Genres: Photography

128 pages, Hardcover

First published July 14, 2014

About the author

Nadav Kander is a London-based artist and director, internationally acclaimed for his portraiture and large-format landscape photographs. He began taking photographs at the age of 13. Kander has received numerous awards and honours. In 2009, shortly after the inauguration of Barack Obama, Kander was commissioned by The New York Times Magazine to produce a landmark series of fifty-two portraits of members of the Obama administration — the largest number of portraits by a single photographer ever published in one issue of the magazine.

His work is held in major public collections, including the National Portrait Gallery in London; Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago; The Frank-Suss Collection, London, New York and Hong Kong.

Reviews

[Kevin Bjorke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both greater than I imagined and yet somehow not? But that is the nature of these things we cannot quite grasp... the only reason I can imagine for a world where human achievements get turned to destruction and dust.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful images, printing, editing, and sequencing.