Inspired by Aimé Césaire’s formulation “colonisation = chosification”, Photoworks Annual #30 is themed The Thing. Gathering work from 30 artists, five writers, and two curators, this publication considers how the camera objectifies, and how image-makers have broached this.

The Thing includes 176 pages, and images from the following artists: Eleonora Agostini, Remy Artiges, Vincen Beeckman and La Deviniere, Lucas Blalock, Leah Clements, Juan Covelli, Giana De Dier, Dries and Bieke Depoorter, Odette England, Jermaine Francis, Frederike Helwig, Lauren Huret, Sky Hopinka, Mahmoud Khaled, Xiang Li, Javier Hirschfeld Moreno, David O’Mara, Liz Orton, Lam Pok Yin and Chong Ng, Wakilur Rahman, Felipe Romero Beltrán, RoN, Julie Scheurweghs, Matilde Søes Rasmussen, Sheida Soleimani, Tabitha Soren, and Sofia Yala.

Each artist’s project is individually introduced, and The Thing also features newly commissioned essays by four writers and academics which center around time, black women artists, and depictions of people by NGOs and aid agencies: Marta Labad, Pelumi Odubanjo, and Jess Crombie & Siobhan Warrington. The introductory essay is by Diane Smyth, Editor of Photoworks and this Annual, and The Thing also includes a round-table transcript of Photoworks Curators Julia Bunneman and Danit Ariel with Matilde Søes Rasmussen, Felipe Romero Beltrán, and Mahmoud Khaled discussing power and image appropriation.