Musicians and designers have also sifted through photography's rich history for powerful photographs to match and keep company with the music enclosed within: Anders Peterson's classic Café Leibnitz portrait of a man nestled into a partner, stands in for Tom Waits on the cover of Swordfishtrombones; Big Star and Alex Chilton push the listener into a corner with William Eggleston's Red Ceiling on their album Radio City; Rage Against the Machine goes for the jugular with the anonymous Vietnam War photo of the self-immolation of a Buddhist monk. Iconic images like the Abbey Road crosswalk are deeply inscribed in our collective memory, but we know few details about the photographer of the image. All of these-and more-are included in this compendium of electrifying images and the albums they grace. Total Records reveals the artists behind some of the most striking images on vinyl sleeves and takes us on a journey through the cultural history of the twentieth century.
Trucks and Tuks explores the vibrant world of decorated vehicles across South Asia, revealing how everyday modes of transport become moving works of art. In this richly illustrated volume, photographer Christopher Herwig turns his lens toward a visual tradition that blends craftsmanship, storytelling and personal expression, transforming roads and highways into open-air galleries.
Across India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, these vehicles carry far more than passengers or cargo. They bear dreams, prayers, aspirations and humor. A truck might feature a majestic eagle rising toward stormy skies, while a tuk tuk may be adorned with shimmering portraits of beloved film stars or painted verses calling for luck and protection. Every motif — from floral garlands to supernatural beings — is chosen with intention, giving each vehicle its own identity and voice.
Herwig spent four years traveling more than 10,000 kilometers to document this kaleidoscopic tradition. His journey reveals not only regional variations in style but also the cultural significance behind each embellishment. In Pakistan’s north, trucks often boast intricate wooden crowns, their curved shapes echoing royal headpieces; in Sri Lanka, tuks may carry devotional symbols alongside contemporary pop culture icons, capturing the joyful coexistence of old and new. Typography, too, plays a central role: hand-painted slogans offer blessings, convey social messages or simply urge fellow drivers to blow their horns.
Yet this exuberant form of folk art stands at a crossroads. Government regulations, coupled with mass-produced decorations, threaten to dull the individuality that once defined these vehicles. Herwig’s project takes on an archival role, preserving a tradition whose future is uncertain.
Trucks and Tuks is not only a photographic survey but also a tribute to the artists, drivers and communities who imbue the region’s roads with color and character. It celebrates the resilience of creativity in everyday life and invites readers to see ordinary vehicles as powerful symbols of cultural heritage.
Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde explores the extraordinary convergence of artists and other creators in Japan's capital city during the radically transformative postwar period. Examining works from a range of media--painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, printmaking, video and film, as well as graphic design, architecture, musical composition and dance--this is the first publication in English to focus in depth on the full scope of postwar art in Japan. During this period, Tokyo was a vibrant hub that attracted such critical artistic figures as Taro Okamoto, Hiroshi Nakamura, Ay-O, Yoko Ono, Mieko Shiomi and Tetsumi Kudo; photographers Daido Moriyama, Eikoh Hosoe and Shomei Tomatsu; illustrators and graphic designers Tadanori Yokoo, Kohei Sugiura and Kiyoshi Awazu; and architects Arata Isozaki and Kisho Kurokawa; as well as many important artists' collectives. Curator Doryun Chong's essay investigates Tokyo's sociopolitical context and the massive urban changes that set the stage for the city to emerge as a vital node in the international avant-garde network. Essays by scholars Hayashi Michio and Miryam Sas and curator Mika Yoshitake discuss critical concepts in art and culture at this time, including "graphism," which manifested itself across various mediums; the development of new sculptural languages; and the "intermedia" tendency that engendered provocative cross-pollination among artistic genres. Masatoshi Nakajima provides an illustrated chronology and Yuri Mitsuda supplies artist biographies. Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde brings fresh insight to this dynamic metropolis during a time of remarkable artistic burgeoning.
In the winter of 2021, Luke Oppenheimer arrived in the Tien Shan mountains of central Kyrgyzstan with a straightforward assignment: document the wolves that prey on livestock in the remote shepherding village of Ottuk. Each year, wolves descend from the high ridges to kill dozens of horses and countless sheep. For families whose wealth is measured in hooves and wool, these losses are catastrophic. The men ride into the mountains during the harshest winter months to track and hunt the predators, navigating blizzards and subzero nights in defense of their herds.
Spanning more than a decade of journeys and visual discoveries, Stories Untold is the ambitious new publication by internationally acclaimed photographer Calla Fleischer, a traveler whose lens is guided as much by curiosity as by empathy. Expansive in both scale and spirit, the nearly 400-page volume gathers a rich tapestry of images that explore the subtleties of the human experience—from fleeting gestures in crowded streets to quiet, contemplative portraits that linger long after the page is turned.
The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway is a groundbreaking photographic and historical project by Charleston-based photographer Virginia McGee Richards, published by MIT Press in April 2026. The work uncovers a little-known chapter of American history, revealing a 300-mile network of colonial-era canals—called “cuts”—dug by enslaved people between the 17th and 18th centuries along the Atlantic coastline from Charleston, South Carolina to St. Augustine, Florida.
"Another Time, Another Place" is an homage to New York City in the 1980s, when it was raw, chaotic, and alive with possibility. Downtown Manhattan was a place where art, music, performance, and nightlife collided—igniting a cultural revolution that still echoes today.
Where Do I Go? is the newest photobook by Rania Matar, bringing together approximately 128 color portraits of young women living in Lebanon today. Released in the shadow of the fiftieth anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War, the book offers a meditation on life shaped by prolonged instability, without allowing conflict to dominate the narrative. Instead of foregrounding destruction, Matar centers creativity, dignity, and resilience, crafting a body of work that quietly insists on the complexity of everyday existence amid uncertainty.
Award-winning Palestinian photographer Ahmad Al-Bazz presents a groundbreaking new work, The Erasure of Palestine, the result of a three-year journey documenting the remnants of hundreds of Palestinian villages and towns depopulated and destroyed from 1948 to the present. Through his lens, Al-Bazz confronts history, memory, and contemporary occupation, offering a stark counter-narrative to the dominant historical record.
With Cockaigne, Austrian photographer Gregor Sailer directs his gaze toward the largely unseen machinery of contemporary food production. Drawing inspiration from the medieval legend of the “Land of Cockaigne” — a fantasy of limitless abundance — Sailer examines the very real systems, technologies, and infrastructures that underpin how food is produced, distributed, and controlled today. The book challenges readers to rethink ideas of nourishment, consumption, and collective responsibility.
In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement was signed in Belfast, signaling peace following 30 years of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles. Photographer Julie McCarthy photographed annually for five years on Shankill Road, a one-mile Protestant/Loyalist enclave running parallel to the Catholic/Republican area. A wall called the “Peace Wall” divides the two communities.
For the first time, Jo Spence: The Unknown Recordings brings together the full transcripts of key historic recordings made with and by the acclaimed British photographer, writer, and feminist Jo Spence (1934–1992), alongside a wealth of unpublished photographs and documents. This landmark book offers an intimate window into the life, work, and politics of one of the most influential figures in British documentary photography.
