Many ideas about nature have become unsettled as people realize that life and economics under global capitalism have irrevocably changed the global ecosystem. The effects of the climate crisis show that nature in the twenty-first century is no longer “natural,” but is instead affected in every way by human actions. How do we view nature today, when its condition is indivisibly interwoven in the social and political expressions of our way of life?

Together with Crespo Foundation, C/O Berlin awards the After Nature . Ulrike Crespo Photography Prize from 2024. Named after the founder and photographer Ulrike Crespo (1950–2019), the prize honors international artists using photography and lens-based media to respond to the changing ecologies of today.

The topic “Photography after Nature” enables a dual perspective on how photography and nature relate. On the one hand, it references a world post-nature, in which the relationship between humans, environment, and technology are undergoing a fundamental transformation. On the other hand, it points to photography as a medium that has documented, constructed, and negotiated the world from the very start. This is echoed in the term “photography after nature,” which was often used in the nineteenth century to underscore photography’s special connection to the planet.