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From gardens to nail art to artist-led activism, these books are the Colossal team’s favorites of the year.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Our Favorite Books of 2025 appeared first on Colossal. More
“I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that our perceived reality is shaped by our minds and reflecting our inner world,” Blancke says.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Otherworldly Photos of Forests by Michelle Blancke Explore Mysticism and Transformation appeared first on Colossal. More
“She Saw Far and Wide” (2023), mixed media, photo collage, acrylic paint, and glitter mounted on canvas in a hand-carved frame, 90 x 76 inches. All images courtesy of the artist, Claire Oliver Gallery, and Plattsburgh State Art Museum, shared with permission
Stan Squirewell’s Mixed-Media Collages Imbue Anonymous Historical Photos with Panache
October 16, 2025
ArtPhotography
Kate Mothes
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Nothing sparks the imagination quite like coming across a trove of old photographs. We look for writing on the reverse and scan the anonymous faces to read a range of expressions. Where exactly they were at that moment, what brought them together that day, and who took the picture? For Stan Squirewell, the allure of historical portraits is a central tenet of his multimedia practice.
In large-scale, mixed-media collages, the artist begins with black-and-white photographs, typically taken a century ago or longer. He especially emphasizes portraits of Black individuals, whether gathered together as a group or posing independently. Some of these compositions start with a formal portrait in a studio, while others have more of a snapshot quality. On their clothing, Squirewell collages fabric patterns, paint, and glitter, inviting the past into the present.
“Awinita” (2022), mixed-media collage, paint, and hand-carved shou sugi ban frame, 59 x 45 inches
Squirewell’s current solo exhibition, Robitussin, Hotcombs & Grease at Plattsburgh State Art Museum, delves into Black identity and daily experience. The title nods to ubiquitous items as “hallmarks of domesticity and comfort in Black homes,” the museum says, focusing on “the reclamation of identity from historical anonymity.”
Squirewell sources photographs from the Smithsonian Institution’s anonymous photo collections and from family and friends. Through the intimate medium of the portrait, anonymous individuals emerge from the archives and are imbued with vivacious textile patterns, and recognizable luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci suggest elevated style and status. Scale also plays a role, too, as Squirewell prints the photos quite large, blurring features in the process yet representing the figures closer to life-size so that their presence is palpable.
Robitussin, Hotcombs & Grease continues through December 5. Plan your visit on the museum’s website, and find more of the artist’s work on Instagram.
“Uncle O,” cut photograph collage mounted on canvas, oil, and glitter in hand-carved shou sugi ban frame, 62.5 x 32.5 inches
“Colorful Joseph II” (2024), cut and collaged archival photography, glitter, and paint, 15.5 x 12.5 inches
“Chico & Charles 3” (2025), manipulated photo-collage, 42 x 26 inches
“Almaz & Lil Symphony”, mixed media collage, paint, and hand-carved shou sugi ban frame, 57 x 40 inches
“Dai Dai” (2022), mixed-media collage, paint, and hand-carved shou sugi van frame, 47 x 39 inches
“Benny & Al,” mixed media, photo collage, acrylic paint, and glitter in a hand-carved frame, 88 x 58 inches
“He’s Home” (2024), artist-printed photos collaged with paint and glitter in a hand-carved shou sugi ban frame, 20 x 12 inches
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Dawoud Bey, “A Man and Two Women After a Church Service” (1976), photograph, gelatin silver print. Gift of David W. Williams and Eric Ceputis. © Dawoud Bey, photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All images courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, shared with permission
Explore Trailblazing Street Photography in ‘Faces in the Crowd’ at MFA Boston
October 2, 2025
ArtHistoryPhotography
Kate Mothes
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When playwright Tennessee Williams reflected on the oeuvre of photographer Stephen Shore in 1982, he said, “His work is Nabokovian for me: Exposing so much and yet leaving so much room for your imagination to roam and do what it will.” The sentiment mirrors not only the power of Shore’s work but the capacity of street photography, more broadly, to provoke wonder and curiosity where we least expect it: the everyday.
Shore was among the first to adopt color photography as an artistic medium, traveling throughout America to document quotidian scenes of life in rural towns and big cities alike. His work followed behemoths of the medium like Walker Evans and Robert Frank and set the stage for others who emerged in his footsteps, including Alec Soth, Nan Goldin, and Martin Parr, among many others.
Stephen Shore, “El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas, July 5, 1975” (1975), photograph, chromogenic print. Museum purchase with funds donated by Scott Offen. © Stephen Shore, photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Shore is included in Faces in the Crowd: Street Photography at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which explores the ever-evolving techniques and approaches that photographers use to document people and daily life. Seminal works from the 1970s to the 1990s by Shore, Garry Winogrand, Helen Levitt, Dawoud Bey, and Yolanda Andrade, among others, are complemented by more recent contributions to the genre by artists like Parr, Luc Delahaye, Katy Grannan, Amani Willett, and Zoe Strauss.
Today, smartphones with powerful digital cameras have made photography more accessible than ever—and also completely transformed the medium. With people always unabashedly filming—taking photos, making videos, posting to social media—in the city, “photographers are now less concerned with surreptitiously capturing an image and much more likely to collaborate with their subjects in the street,” the MFA says.
The difference between snapshots and art is perhaps partly in intention, although that line is often purposely blurred. Bey’s striking “A Man and Two Women After a Church Service,” for example, captures a seemingly simple scene, yet the composition and clarity are a testament to timing and technical expertise. In what feels like simultaneously a public and private moment, the 1976 image glimpses both a particular scene and an American historical period.
Whether taken decades ago or snapped within the past few years, the images in Faces in the Crowd invite us into each experience. Luc Delahaye’s “Taxi,” for example, captures a solemn, intimate, enigmatic moment as a mother holds her young son in her arms in the back of a vehicle.
Luc Delahaye, “Taxi” (2016), photograph, chromogenic print. Museum purchase with funds donated by Richard and Lucille Spagnuolo. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Yasuhiro Ishimoto’s crowd photo, taken from the hip, immerses us in the thrum of a city thoroughfare. And Yolanda Andrade captures an uncanny blip when a street performer disappears behind the unsettlingly large head of a puppet. The MFA says, “Drawn to photography’s narrative potential, many employ the camera as a tool of transformation, taking everyday pictures from the ordinary to the strangely beautiful or even ominous.”
Faces in the Crowd opens on October 11 and runs through July 13, 2026. Find more on the museum’s website. You might also enjoy A Sense of Wonder, a monograph of the work of Joel Meyerowitz that was just released by SKIRA.
Yasuhiro Ishimoto “Untitled (71 1879B)” (about 1967), photograph, gelatin silver print, printed in the 1980s. Gift of David W. Williams and Eric Ceputis. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Cristobal Hara, “Cuenca (Crowded Bus)” (about 1973), photograph, gelatin silver print. Gift of Peter Soriano. © Cristóbal Hara, photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Helen Levitt, “New York” (1976, printed 1993), photograph, dye transfer color print. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Graham Gund. © Helen Levitt Film Documents LLC. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Yolanda Andrade, “La revisitación o nueva revelación” (1986), silver gelatin print. Museum purchase with funds donated by Elizabeth and Michael Marcus. © Yolanda Andrade, photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Joel Sternfeld, “New York City (# 1), 1976” (1976), photograph, pigment print. Gift of Ralph and Nancy Segall. © Joel Sternfeld, reproduction courtesy of Luhring Augustine Gallery. Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Michael Spano, Untitled, from the ‘Diptych Series’ (1999), photograph, gelatin silver print. Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund for Photography, reproduced with permission. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Matthew Connors, “Pyongyang” from the series ‘Unanimous Desires’ (2013), photograph, inkjet print. Museum purchase with funds donated by Scott Offen. Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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“Harmony.” All images © Christy Lee Rogers, courtesy of Art Labor Gallery, shared with permission
In ‘Aqueous Renaissance,’ Christy Lee Rogers Conjures Beauty and Interconnectivity Under Water
September 2, 2025
ArtPhotography
Kate Mothes
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Born in Hawai’i, Christy Lee Rogers was fascinated by water from an early age. “For me, water has always been both chaos and freedom,” the artist says. “It strips away control and asks us to see ourselves in a different light. That’s where my stories begin.”
Rogers is known for her large-scale, maximalist photographs shot completely under water, suspending figures in the midst of billowing garments. Using a range of lighting effects and vibrant fabrics to compose dramatic images, her style is evocative of Baroque or Rococo paintings and murals.
“Candy”
Aqueous Renaissance, the artist’s forthcoming solo exhibition at Art Labor Gallery, showcases Rogers’ unique exploration of underwater photography throughout the last two decades. Tapping into the term “renaissance” as a period of revival or rebirth, she aims to highlight beauty and grace in our contemporary era marked by factions and division.
Rogers’ photos are achieved by submerging her subjects in dark water, which she illuminates with a range of lights. As the figures twist and turn, the light creates a dreamlike, painterly effect. “Her underwater visions are not escapist fantasies but mirrors of our collective condition—fragile, fluid, and searching for meaning,” the gallery says.
Aqueous Renaissance runs from September 6 through October 26 in Shanghai. See more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“A Dream Blossomed Right in Front of My Eyes”
Image from Lavazza Calendar
“Our Hopes and Expectations”
“Tenderness”
“A Dream Dreamed in the Presence of Reason”
“Candy”
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All images courtesy of FUEL Publishing, shared with permission
Christopher Herwig Motors Through Southeast Asia to Capture a Vivid Fleet of ‘Trucks and Tuks’
August 18, 2025
ArtBooksPhotography
Grace Ebert
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From Pakistan to Sri Lanka, a vibrant tradition zooms down mountain passes and through city streets. The vernacular art form elaborately adorns vehicles with intricate motifs and celebrity portraits, while cabs brim with synthetic flowers, tassels, and dreamcatchers. A common sight on Southeast Asian roadways, these vivid modes of transport are the subject of a new book by photographer Christopher Herwig.
Known for documenting Soviet-era bus stops and metro stations, Herwig’s latest project Trucks and Tuks journeys 10,000 kilometers and 208 pages, capturing the wondrous, idiosyncratic custom. As Riya Raagini writes in the introduction, sajavat, or ornamentation and decoration, is an essential component of culture in the region, found on streets and within homes alike. “Even before modern vehicles appeared in the region, people were decorating every conceivable mode of transport, from bullock carts to boats. Naturally, when trucks, tuk-tuks, and rickshaws began to arrive in the early 20th century, they were embellished in a similar fashion,” Raagini adds.
Today, this tradition is increasingly threatened. Several countries have cracked down on vehicle modifications citing safety concerns, while the proliferation of mass-produced decals and objects overtakes what was a largely hand-crafted art form.
For Herwig, Trucks and Tuks glimpses what he calls “the poetry of the road,” a complex mix of masculinity, creative expression, and hope. He writes:
Alongside the practical elements found in the truckers’ cabs, there was often an abundance of visual imagery in marked contrast to their challenging existence. Decorated with elaborate whimsical flare, dangling good luck charm,s and wallpaper showing idyllic scenes, they revealed a dream life.
Published by FUEL, Trucks and Tuks is available for pre-order from Bookshop.
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Agnes Pelton, “Fountains” (1926), oil on canvas. Photo courtesy of Peter Palladino/The Agnes Pelton Society. All images courtesy of TASCHEN, shared with permission
‘Spirit Worlds’ Illuminates Our Timeless Quest to Comprehend the Supernatural
August 13, 2025
ArtBooksHistoryPhotography
Kate Mothes
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Since time immemorial, humans have been both awed and guided by the power of the unknown. A basis of spiritual beliefs the world over is the abiding question, why?—a probing wonderment often followed closely by, what happens when we die?
Human belief systems provide structure that help us to make sense of the world, and yet the nature of our existence—and how we fit into the context of the cosmos—comprises some of the most beguiling mysteries of all. It’s no surprise that across cultures and throughout millennia, our search for meaning and connection with other worlds has inspired incredible creativity.
Adolf de Meyer, “Fortune Teller” (1921)
Spirit Worlds, forthcoming from TASCHEN on September 15, celebrates art’s relationship to other realms. More than 400 works spanning thousands of years, paired with essays and interviews with scholars and practitioners, illustrate our fascination with supernatural, from angels and celestial beings to darker forces like ghosts and demons.
The title marks the sixth installment in The Library of Esoterica series, which also includes titles like Plant Magick and Sacred Sites. Spirit Worlds clocks in at more than 500 pages, surveying death rites, altars, sacred temples, the messages of prophets, links mediums make with the other side, symbolic statuary, and more.
“In this expansive volume, we board the ferry across the storied river and enter the gloomy passages between lands, stepping across the threshold—to part the most sacred of veils,” the publisher says.
Pre-order your copy in the Colossal Shop.
Mariusz Lewandowski “Soul Hunter” (2015), 40 x 50 centimeters
The Jade Emperor or King of Heaven at Chua On Lang taoist temple, Ho chi Minh City, Vietnam
“Paradiso, Canto 12: The rings of glorified souls in the sun,” illustration from ‘The Divine Comedy’ by Dante Alighieri, 1885. Digitally colored engraving originally by Gustave Doré
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All images © Victoria Ruiz, shared with permission
Spirituality, Nature, and Performance Converge in Victoria Ruiz’s Vibrant Photographs
July 15, 2025
ArtPhotography
Kate Mothes
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“For me, costume has always been part of everything,” says photographer and multidisciplinary artist Victoria Ruiz. “Culturally, I grew up in Venezuela seeing costume not as something separate from daily life but as something deeply embedded in it, especially through the lens of carnival. Carnival is in our blood. It’s not just a festival; it’s a way of expressing history, resistance, joy, and grief. A costume, at the end of the day, is something you wear that tells a story.”
In striking, saturated images, Ruiz channels a fascination with nature, dance, spirituality, and African diasporic religion. Citing belief systems of the Americas like Santería-Ifá, Candomblé, Umbanda, and Espiritismo, the artist delves into the histories and cultural resonance of religion as modes of resistance and adaptation. These faiths often blend “African spiritual traditions with Indigenous and colonial influences,” she says in a statement.
Currently based in London, Ruiz draws upon her childhood experiences in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, where she and her family encountered both nuanced ancestral practices and urgent political violence. “I grew up surrounded by characters, some from folkloric traditions, others from more disturbing scenes like military or police repression,” the artist tells Colossal. She continues:
I realized early on that uniforms are also costumes. What people wore during those moments of violence or protest created powerful symbols. It was a kind of dark carnival. And I became very curious about what those garments meant and how they could inspire fear, power, or solidarity.
In her series Para Tú Altar: Las Fuerzas Divinas de la Naturaleza, which translates to For Your Altar: The Divine Forces of Nature, Ruiz draws upon a seminal music album by Cuban salsa artist Celia Cruz, who incorporated ceremonial Santería music into one of her early albums. Para Tú Altar references one of Cruz’s songs about different types of flowers used to honor the divinity of nature.
At the time, African diasporic religions like Santería, in which Yoruba traditions, Catholicism, and Spiritism converge, were largely hidden from view due to widespread prejudice and marginalization. Ruiz adds, “It could be said that Celia did not truly understand that what she was doing at the time was transcendent for Cuba’s musical culture and the religion itself.”
Music and performance are central tenets in Ruiz’s work. Since she was young, she studied ballet, flamenco, and contemporary dance, but it was only when she moved to London and began collaborating with dancers that elements of her practice began to truly gel. “Seeing them embody the costumes—activating them with movement and intention—transformed my whole practice,” she says. “It became a way to make the pieces alive and to create immersive, emotional storytelling.”
Ruiz works with a range of fabrics and materials like faux flowers and other props, depending on the theme of the series. She often reuses the costumes to emphasize sustainability. “Each costume and each image is a portal to the divine; it is a visual offering, a spiritual invocation,” Ruiz says. “They’re my own interpretations of how these forces have shaped and protected me. I’m still on that journey, and this work is a kind of gratitude, a love letter to those unseen powers that have carried me.”
The artist is currently working on a series of protective masks, drawing on the ingenuity of handmade masks used during protests that Ruiz witnessed while living in Caracas. “At one point, gas masks were actually banned from entering the country, so people responded with creativity and survival instinct creating masks from water bottles, cardboard, even stuffed animals,” she says. “I found it so powerful: this creativity in the face of danger—this need to resist and survive through making.”
See more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
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“El Hombre y la Montaña” (December 31, 2020). All images courtesy of This Book Is True, shared with permission
Punctured Photographs by Yael Martínez Illuminate the Daily Ruptures of Systemic Violence
June 13, 2025
ArtBooksPhotographySocial Issues
Grace Ebert
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The Mexican state of Guerrero lies on the southern Pacific coast and is home to the popular tourist destination of Acapulco. It’s also one of the nation’s most violent areas due to drug trafficking and cartel presence, and is one of six states that account for nearly half of the country’s total homicides.
For artist and photographer Yael Martínez, the reality of organized crime became more pronounced when, in 2013, three of his family members disappeared. He began to speak with others in his community who had experienced similar traumas and to connect threads across the borders of Mexico to Honduras, Brazil, and the United States.
“Itzel at home,” Guerrero, Mexico
Luciérnagas, which translates to fireflies, comes from Martínez’s meditation on this extreme brutality that “infiltrates daily life and transforms the spirit of a place,” a statement says. Now published in a volume by This Book Is True, the poetic series punctures dark, nighttime photographs with minuscule holes. When backlit, the images bear a dazzling constellation of light that distorts the images in which violence isn’t depicted but rather felt.
In one work, for example, a man holding a firework stands in a poppy field, a perforated cloud of smoke enveloping his figure. He’s performing an annual ritual on the sacred hill of La Garza, and the setting exemplifies a poignant contradiction between ancestral cultures and a crop that has been subsumed by capitalism and is essential to cartel power. A statement elaborates:
We don’t see death in Luciérnaga, but its omnipresence is felt throughout, lingering in the shadows of each photograph. Each image painfully underwritten by the result of a calculated violence that visited unseen and undetected, leaving behind the immense void of a vanished loved one. And yet there is always a sense of hope that informs the making of this work.
Luciérnagas is available from This Book Is True. Find more from Martínez on Instagram.
“Toro” (2018), Guerrero, Mexico
“Abuelo-Estrella” (December 21, 2020), Cochoapa El Grande, Guerrero, Mexico
“Levantada de Cruz” (2021)
“El Río de la Memoria y Mis Hijas” (2022)
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