Colossal’s Favorite Art Books of 2024
As we get ready to say goodbye to 2024, we’re celebrating some of our favorite books shared on Colossal throughout the year. We published dozens of articles about spectacular new monographs, photography, architecture, painting, science, history, and more. Peruse our…
Luminous Skies Star in the 2024 Northern Lights Photographer of the Year Contest
“This year, as we reach the solar maximum of the current solar cycle, the Northern and Southern Lights have been more active than ever, illuminating skies in unexpected places where they’ve rarely—if ever—been photographed,” say the organizers of the 2024…
My Brain Took an Extended Vacation: Ben Zank Playfully Twists the Banal
When words can’t quite sum up a feeling, Ben Zank (previously) leans into a bizarre visual language. The New York-based photographer creates strange situations in which subjects find themselves subsumed by topiaries and shrubs or buttoned up with structural supports….
Gary Wagner’s Photos Illuminate Rugged Icelandic Fjords and Shorelines
Working exclusively in black-and-white, Gary Wagner’s striking photos pare dramatic landscapes down to their essential shapes, lines, and tones. Based in Northern California, he captures shorelines, forests, and mountains using digital cameras. In his series Iceland Forces of Nature, Wagner…
Kathryn Cooper’s Layered Photos Capture the Complexities of Starling Murmurations
Flocks of starlings share risk as hundreds—even thousands—of eyes are on the lookout for predators. “Remarkably, the group achieves this without any leadership structure, the simple interactions between individuals creating outcomes greater than the sum of their parts,” says scientist…
Endless Fields of Detritus Blanket Cássio Vasconcellos’s Aerial Composites
Where do jets go when they no longer fly? What happens to shipping containers when they aren’t useful anymore for cargo? The answer is invisible to most of us, but for Cássio Vasconcellos, abandoned trains, planes, and automobiles are far…
Denis Cherim’s Photos Capture the Coincidental Charisma of Daily Scenes
Light, shadows, and linear perspective are just a few of the tricks up photographer Denis Cherim’s sleeve as he captures surprising, well-timed, and occasionally ironic glimpses of daily life (previously). “I seek answers in places hidden in plain sight,” the…
In ‘Keep the Kid Alive,’ Arielle Bobb-Willis Reaches for Exuberance
Color, movement, and sweeping, expertly choreographed gestures permeate the works of Arielle Bobb-Willis. The Los Angeles-based photographer blurs the boundaries between art and fashion imagery, rejecting “the notion that Black expression is limited—or limiting.” A slim monograph collects 90 of…
Spawning in Forests, Figures Pose as Human-Sized Fungi
Nestled in the thicket of bushes and trees, a cast of curious figures resemble a variety of fungi. Crafted by Riitta Ikonen and photographed on film by Annie Collinge (previously), the symbiotic project aims to nurture the relationship between human…
A Star Is Born: A Phenomenal New Image Showcases a Stellar Nursery in Stunning Detail
About 200,000 light-years from Earth is the Small Magellanic Cloud, a relatively tiny galaxy containing several hundred million stars. At its edge is a cluster known as NGC 602, which has an environment similar to that of our universe in…