British Journal of Photography #7917

Virtual Reality

This edition considers how technological shifts are disrupting photographic perspectives, from video games to AI, glitch messaging and print warping.

In major profiles of Robert Zhao Renhui, Zed Nelson, Farah Al Qasimi and Jean-Vincent Simonet, our writers consider photography’s unique incompleteness – less a window on the world and more a subjective view through a distancing, opaque frame. Up front, exhibition previews take readers from Nottingham Contemporary to Kyotographie, and we’ve dedicated our Intelligence essays to the SWANA region, spotlighting initiatives in Egypt, Lebanon and reporting on Palestinian photographers.

The cover is an image from Arko Datto’s ‘Kings of a Bereft Land’. Shot in the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta, Datto’s series addresses the climate crisis using infrared film. It’s a reminder of the wider existential threats which inform – but also dwarf – the artistic shifts we explore in this magazine.