Side Effects

Kacper Kowalski, a photographer best known for his highly aesthetic aerial photography, awarded twice with World Press Photo, finally releases his long-awaited and highly anticipated debut photobook. Up to this moment his photographs were accessible only via press and on view at photography exhibitions. The book's design allows a multidirectional way of viewing and presents a sky-high journey to the core of the complicated human-nature relationship. "What interest me the most are intersection points of society and nature - says Kowalski - it is where interesting things happen: disorder in harmony, emergence of new forms." The book cover itself is in a way an invitation to reflect on the "side effects" of human impact on the natural world. When touched the cover's heat-sensitive, color-changing ink disappears to reveal fragments of photographs hidden underneath. Images appear, only to disappear again after a short time (are they lost forever?). Edgar Bak created a simple and unembellished graphic design for the book. He managed to create an orientation system to guide the reader through the pages of the book - with occasional drawings and graphically presented geographic coordinates, which meticulously describe each photograph.