A gorgeously printed philosophical photobook that reenchants the
natural world
This project is the result of a unique fusion between photographer
Viviane Sassen and philosopher Emanuele Coccia, two key figures in their
respective fields. Sassen contributes 80 new photographs that celebrate
the natural world, and Coccia supplies an ambitious essay that
reassesses the unity of all sentient life. Neither an illustration of
text nor a commentary on a series of images, Modern Alchemy situates
their two streams of creativity in a dialogue, forging a reverent
meditation on art and nature. Gorgeously bound in printed cloth, this
meditative photobook invites readers to reenvision the earth's
ever-present beauty.
Viviane Sassen (born 1972) is a Dutch photographer based in
Amsterdam who works in both the fashion and fine art worlds. She has
photographed campaigns for luxury brands such as Miu Miu, Stella
McCartney and Louis Vuitton, and her work has been exhibited at
Fotografiska, New York (2017); Museum of Contemporary Photography,
Chicago (2017); and ICA, London (2015). She won the International Center
of Photography's Infinity Award for Applied/Fashion/Advertising
Photography in 2011.
Emanuele Coccia (born 1976) is a philosopher of aesthetics, with a
focus on the ontological status and normative power of images in fashion
and advertising. He is an associate professor at the École des Hautes
Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and visiting professor at Harvard.
Coccia is the author of Metamorphoses (2021), The Life of Plants
(2018) and Sensible Life (2016).
