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The German book publisher Hatje Cantz has produced a monograph of Nadav’s Prix Pictet–winning series “Yangtze, The Long River,” designed by Tappin Gofton Ltd. The 166-page clothbound book—featuring 75 color images, an introduction by Kofi Annan, and text by Jean Paul Tchang—will be available in September.

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From the publisher:

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Nadav Kander (born 1961 in Israel) creates images in an age of radical change: in a series awarded the famed Prix Pictet in 2009, he photographed a China in the process of revolution. Traveling along the Yangtze River, he took serene pictures of people haplessly facing overwhelming change. In these pictures, the river—China’s main artery—becomes a metaphor of constant transformation. The tiny figure of a mother with a baby in her arms leans against a huge bridge piling, and one cannot help but wonder what the country will look like when this child is an adult. There are still traces of the old China, for whose spirituality the river was important, but the idyllic old buildings and houseboats have been replaced by colossal new apartment complexes that emulate Western architecture. As Kander himself says: “China is a nation that appears to be severing its roots by destroying its past in the wake of the sheer force of its moving ‘forward’ at such an astounding and unnatural pace. A people scarring their country, and a country scarring its people.”

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A couple of the images in the book:

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"Chongqing I." Photo by Nadav Kander. From the book "Yangtze, The Long River" (Hatje Cantz, September 2010).

"Fallen Bridge II, Qinghai." Photo by Nadav Kander. From the book "Yangtze, The Long River" (Hatje Cantz, September 2010).

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To see sample spreads, and for ordering info, go here.

You don’t often see publishers offering behind-the-scenes coverage of their monographs, but that’s just what Hatje Cantz has done with Yangtze. You can follow along as the book progresses from image selection and sequencing to final corrections and more. Here are a couple of the behind-the-scenes photos they’ve posted:

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From left: Nadav (right) and Chris Littlewood, the director of photography for Flowers Gallery, editing the "Yangtze" layout at Nadav’s London studio; Nadav with designers Simon Gofton and Mark Tappin and Hatje Cantz publishing director Markus Hartmann discussing "Yangtze" at Foyles bookshop in Charing Cross Road, London.

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At one point, Nadav is asked why he wanted to present the work, which he created over a period of more than three years, in book form. His response:

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“Sometimes when I am in front of a Bridge, River or whatever and I’m not sure that what I’m looking at is valid and worthwhile pursuing (feeling as if I am having a bout of blindness), I imagine the picture on the page of a book.This is my gauge of worthiness, my test as to whether to carry on or abandon the picture or idea.I see books above all else in this medium, partly because they can be such beautiful objects but most importantly they are a way of putting a period of your life and a set of works to bed, beautifully encased in a jacket, and allowing you to be free to carry on.”

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The behind-the-scenes journey starts here.

Hatje Cantz is also offering a limited edition of the following photograph from the series…

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Photo by Nadav Kander. From the book "Yangtze, The Long River" (Hatje Cantz, September 2010).

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“This atmospheric image,” the publisher notes, “focuses beautifully on the central statement of the photo project: boys swimming along the shores of the river, while behind this idyllic scene, a factory smokestack pollutes the air.” The edition, available in October, will comprise 25 signed and numbered prints. More info here.

Elsewhere at the site, Nadav explains a bit about what this project means to him and to the people he photographed:
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“A Chinese friend I made whilst working on the project reiterated what many Chinese people feel: ‘Why do we have to destroy to develop?’ He explained that in Britain many of us can revisit where we were brought up and it will be much the same, it will remind us of our families and upbringing,” Nadav recalls. “In China that is virtually impossible, the scale of development has left most places unrecognisable. … China is progressing rapidly, and to this end I feel there is a mirroring of the bad habits of the West. The landscape both economically and physically is changing daily. These are photographs that can never be taken again.”
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