Afterwards: Contemporary Photography Confronting the Past

Shows the possibility for contemporary photography to question events, to connect us emotionally with our fellow humans, and to provide an opportunity to understand and find answers.

In a media-saturated world, are we in fact becoming immune to the impact of photography that captures cataclysmic moments of devastation and suffering? Have we increasingly stopped looking and thinking, or is it that we react more to photographs taken after an event where there’s an opportunity to reflect, to empathize?

This powerful and thought-provoking survey features work by thirty-one contemporary photographers—Robert Polidori, Suzanne Opton, Raphae¨l Dallaporta, Taryn Simon, Guy Tillim, and more—whose concern is to examine the aftermath of violence, disaster, and suffering. The photographs invite us to consider the resonance of events that have taken place over sixty years of modern history, including the aftermath of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia, and the fate of people in the midst of horrible events or long-term upheaval, such as refugees, political prisoners, or survivors of natural disasters. 158 full-color and 31 black-and-white photographs