Nadav Kander (b. 1961) is best known for Yangtze – The Long River, for which he earned the prestigious Prix Pictet award in 2009. Other series include Obama’s People, a 52 portrait series commissioned by New York Times magazine, and his recent portraits for the National Portrait Gallery exhibition Road to 2012. Kander’s work is included in several public collections, and he has exhibited internationally at venues including Musee de L’Elysee, Lausanne, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, Museum of Applied Arts, Cologne, Kennedy’s Museum, Berlin, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, Palais de Tokyo, Paris and Herzilya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel.

BODIES. 6 Women, 1 Man develops the exploration of the human condition established by Kander in earlier work such as Yangtze - The Long River. Whether photographing the consequences of the incomprehensible development in modern-day China, or a white painted nude suspended against the darkness of his studio, his photographs are linked by their ‘compassionate ruthlessness’, and by the constant strive to explore the poeticism of life’s idiosyncrasies.

The latest project by Kander is called Dust, for it he investigated the hidden remnants of the Cold War, contained within a few secret cities on the border between Kazakhstan and Russia. With a clear interest in the poetic aesthetics of destruction and desolation, Kander spent three years reflecting on an area where hundreds of atomic bombs were tested. Contrary to the official reports this area was still populated at the time of the tests. The unsuspecting inhabitants were closely monitored by scientists for the effects of nuclear radiation. Nadav Kander carefully explored the darker side of humanity while keeping a keen eye on the Geiger-counter attached to his belt.

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