STUART FRANKLIN. FOOTPRINT OUR LANDSCAPE IN FLUX

STUART FRANKLIN (1956-)

Stuart Franklin’s pictures express a deep ecological concern – making this a stunning yet ominous photographic document of Europe’s changing landscape.

From the arctic north of Russia to the arid coast of southern Spain, from the glaciers of Spitsbergen to the baked concrete of Athens, the extremes of the European landscape are captured with an eye for both natural and unnatural processes.

Change is documented in beautiful, disturbing detail: the effects of pollution on trees and tundra; the extent of floods and rising sea levels; the shrinking and recession of once vast glaciers. Franklin’s photographs also depict evolving scenes of contemporary life, such as industrial floriculture in the Netherlands and artificial beaches in city centres.

With essays by Heike Strelow, editor of Ecological Aesthetics, Tanja Pföhler, Stuart Franklin’s photographic assistant, and Andrew Goudie, Professor of Geography at Oxford University, this book is a profound testament to fragility and change in the landscape.

Stuart Franklin is the current President of Magnum Photos. Among his previous books are Hôtel Afrique, Sea Fever and The Time of Trees.