New Monograph by Pioneer of Color Photography Richard Misrach Offers a Meditation on Global Trade and the Environment

New York, May 6, 2025—This spring, Aperture releases Richard Misrach: Cargo, the latest monograph from the acclaimed photographer, featuring a selection of new atmospheric and vivid seascapes of the San Francisco Bay.

Cargo presents the artist’s sublime meditation on the often-unseen patterns of global trade and commerce. In 2021, on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, which, at its height, seemed to nearly halt the networks of international trade, Misrach began taking thousands of photographs of cargo ships as they moved to and from the port of Oakland, California. In his monumental seascapes, cargo ships appear frozen in time—diminutive but stalwart—within an expansive, richly colored confluence of sea, sky, and atmosphere. Eerie, sparse, and undeniably beautiful, Misrach’s images abstractly trace multiple histories: the recent collapse and slow recovery of these seafaring trade routes, the confrontation of the human and natural environment in an era of climate disaster, and a rich lineage of maritime art. Alongside the work, the book features an essay by San Francisco-based writer Rebecca Solnit.

Upcoming programs for the book include an Aperture PhotoBook Club discussion with Richard Misrach, Aperture’s executive director, Sarah Meister, and additional guests to be announced. The discussion will be held on Tuesday, August 12, at 1:00 pm (EDT). The virtual program is free with registration at aperture.org/events.

To coincide with the book’s launch, Aperture is releasing a limited-edition print by Richard Misrach entitled Cargo (January 2, 2024, 7:06 a.m.). Proceeds from the sale of the work directly support Aperture’s nonprofit publishing, educational, and public programs. The print is available at aperture.org/prints

Aperture is deeply grateful to Pace Gallery for their generous support. This project was made possible, in part, with generous support from Mona Baroudi and Patrick Whitgrove, Sharyn and Bruce Charnas, Paul Germain, and Béryl and Rex Hamilton. Aperture also wishes to thank Fraenkel Gallery for their contribution to making this project possible.

Richard Misrach: Cargo is available at aperture.org/books.

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Richard Misrach (born in Los Angeles, 1949) is one of the most influential photographers of his generation, renowned for his trailblazing work in large-format color photography. He has documented the American landscape for over five decades through his influential and ongoing Desert Cantos project—an exploration of humanity’s complex relationship to place. His work is held in the collections of over fifty major institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship. His previous Aperture titles include Destroy This Memory (2010), Golden Gate (2012), Petrochemical America (with Kate Orff, 2012), The Mysterious Opacity of Other Beings (2015), Border Cantos (with Guillermo Galindo, 2016), and Richard Misrach on Landscape and Meaning (2021).

Rebecca Solnit is a writer, a historian, an activist, and the author of more than twenty books, including Hope in the Dark (2004), A Field Guide to Getting Lost (2005), A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster (2009), Men Explain Things to Me (2014), Recollections of My Nonexistence (2020), and Orwell’s Roses (2022). Solnit writes regularly for the Guardian, serves on the board of the climate group Oil Change International, and recently launched the climate project Not Too Late. She is based in San Francisco.

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About Aperture
Aperture is a nonprofit publisher that leads conversations around photography worldwide. From its base in New York, Aperture connects global audiences and supports artists through its acclaimed quarterly magazine, books, exhibitions, digital platforms, public programs, limited-edition prints, and awards. Established in 1952 to advance “creative thinking, significantly expressed in words and photographs,” Aperture champions photography’s vital role in nurturing curiosity and encouraging a more just, tolerant society.

Aperture’s programs and operations are made possible by the generosity of our board of trustees, our members, and other individuals, and with major support from 7G Foundation, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund, Documentary Arts, Ford Foundation, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Marta Heflin Foundation, Ishibashi Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, Anne Levy Charitable Trust, Henry Luce Foundation, Mailman Foundation, MurthyNAYAK Foundation, Grace Jones Richardson Trust, San Francisco Foundation, Thomas R. Schiff Foundation, Jane Smith Turner Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Stuart B. Cooper and R. L. Besson, Kate Cordsen and Denis O’Leary, Thomas and Susan Dunn, Agnes Gund, Michael Sonnenfeldt, Jon Stryker and Slobodan Randjelović, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts, with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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Press Contact
Lauren Van Natten, publicity@aperture.org