In The State of Water (Radius Books, 2019) Brad Temkin calls attention to the visual and ecological beauty of water as it is transformed through human intervention. He does this by showing the structures and processes – that many people don’t think about – which recycle, redirect and sanitize storm and wastewater. As the industrial systems mimic nature’s ability to separate impurities like sludge, salt and chemicals, a transformation occurs.

More than 700 cities reclaim and re-use wastewater and storm water, recycling it for agricultural uses and drinking water. Temkin believes it matters less what each manmade structure really is used for, or whether the water in his pictures are pure or waste. “He is drawn instead to the strangeness of these forms and the distorted sense of scale,” states the press release. “Moving beyond mere description, he embraces the abstract and at times surreal landscape of water transformation.”

The State of Water
By Brad Temkin
Radius Books

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