Atlas Aquæ continues the research initiated with OMNE on the theme of nature, further exploring the language and possibilities of contemporary photobook publishing. Following Index Naturae and Index Naturae. Revisited (Skinnerboox, 2023 and 2024), this new volume turns to the world of water through a wide selection of images drawn from 68 photobooks published between 2018 and 2025.

The chosen images examine water in its many states, forms and manifestations, treating it as both material and metaphor. The project is conceived as a laboratory of possible visual narratives, capable of expressing the complexity of a subject that is at once natural, cultural and symbolic.

Organised as a potential encyclopaedia of images, Atlas Aquæ functions as a “book of books,” preserving the individuality of each contribution while emphasising the collective nature of the project. Its structure follows a double alphabetical sequence, forward and reverse, creating a rhythm that disrupts linear order and transforms classification into movement.

Drawing on the idea of the atlas and its key reinterpretations (such as those by Aby Warburg and Gerhard Richter), the book brings together diverse approaches to open a space of reflection where science, politics and ecology intersect. Water becomes both flow and system of relations — a contemporary lens through which to read aesthetic, environmental and political realities, and a powerful metaphor for interconnected life.

List of Authors:

Bahadir Aksan, Regina Anzenberger, Gianpaolo Arena, Adrianna Ault, Jessica Backhaus, Nikolay Bakharev, Olivo Barbieri, Mandy Barker, Nora Bibel, Line Bøhmer Løkken, Barbara Bosworth, Suzette Bousema, Marina Caneve, Pierfrancesco Celada, Céline Clanet, Camilla de Maffei, Matteo de Mayda, Susanna De Vido, François Deladerriere, Tristan Duke, Sybille Eimermacher, Tanja Engelberts, Maria Elisa Ferraris, Nicolas Floc’h, Malin Gezelius, Gary Green, Stanley Greenberg, Hans Gremmen, Pia-Pauline Guilmoth, Ben Huff, Vincent Jendly, Ron Jude, Sant Khalsa, Nico Krebs, András Ladocsi, Romain Laprad, Alex Llovet, Daniel Jack Lyons, Marjolein Martinot, Francesco Merlini, Vittorio Mortarotti, Gert Motmans, Taiyo Onorato, Sara Palmieri, Hyung-Geun Park, Denisse Ariana Pérez, Mimi Plumb, Kristine Potter, Yan Wang Preston, Meghann Riepenhoff, Filippo Romano, Anna Rotty, Antonio Rovaldi, Mark Ruwedel, Nadia Sablin, Amedeo Sartori, Hans- Christian Schink, Jem Southam, Petra Stavast, Mark Steinmetz, Julian Stettler, Jan Stradtmann, Larry Sultan, Mark Templeton, Rick Van der Klooster, Sander Van Wettum, Wei Weng, Marco Zorzanello, Zindzi Zwietering.