Opening Reception April 21, 6-8 p.m.
NEW YORK—An exhibition of photographs by the renowned London-based artist Nadav Kander will be on view at Howard Greenberg Gallery from April 21 through June 17, 2022. Nadav Kander: The Thread, the Prix Pictet-winning photographer’s first exhibition with Howard Greenberg Gallery, will present evocative landscapes and penetrating portraits from the 1990s-2020s that evoke the interconnectedness of humanity. The exhibition title, inspired by the poem “The Way It Is” by William Stafford, refers to this common thread.
“This connectivity is the only way we can come together as a species,” Kander noted. “My approach is to drill down to the essence of things, searching for feelings of vulnerability, quiet, and beauty, whether it be a familiar face or a riverscape.” Widely regarded as one of the most insightful photographers of our time, Kander’s work brings out the essence of his subjects in both subtle and powerful ways that resonate in the viewer’s mind.
For his landscapes, Kander has traveled extensively around the globe including the Yangtze River in China, the Artic Circle, the salt flats of Utah, and Chernobyl. Three works from Kander’s series Yangtze — The Long River, 2006-2007 will be on view. The project was awarded the prestigious Prix Pictet in 2009. For this body of work, Kander travelled the nearly 4,000-mile-long Yangtze River, from mouth to source, photographing the landscape and the people living along its shores. Yangtze — The Long River is a body of work that captures the dramatic effects of a nation at the precipice of enormous industrial and economic change and considers the history and folklore of the waterway that runs through the blood of the people.
Kander’s ongoing series Dark Line – The Thames Estuary, which he began in 2015, focuses on the River Thames where it connects with the sea. Kander captures atmospheric images of slow-moving dark waters and seemingly infinite horizons. Travelling to the estuary alone, engaging in the process of slow photography, he focuses on the cycles of the river, as well as its historical and mystical implications. The resulting images are deeply immersive and explore photography’s ability to encapsulate time and physical borders. By showing the Thames as sparse and monochromatic, with immeasurable distances disappearing into the fog, Kander found a marriage between subject, medium, and metaphor that intimately reflects his own inner experience.
Kander’s images of world leaders, authors, scientists, and actors exude an incisive and intimate essence. The exhibition will include more than of 30 of Kander’s portraits including HRH Prince Charles, David Lynch, Rosamond Pike, David Attenborough, and Barack Obama. These contemplative works transform familiar faces into uncanny depictions of human concern.