Overview
We are pleased to present Nadav Kander: After Dark, a solo exhibition bringing together three bodies of work by renowned London-based photographer, artist, and director, Nadav Kander.
Widely recognised for his portraiture and large-format landscapes, Nadav Kander presents both familiar pieces and unseen works from his series Dark Line – The Thames Estuary and Colour Fields, alongside two photographic etchings from a new body of work titled Treow (Trust and Promise), shown here for the first time.
Kander’s distinctive approach blurs the boundaries between documentation and introspection, engaging with photography as both an exploration of the world around us and a map to inner landscapes. It invites viewers to pause in the space between what is felt and what is seen.
Dark Line – The Thames Estuary
In Dark Line – The Thames Estuary, Kander turns his lens to the slow-moving, dark waters of the Thames as it meets the sea. Drawn to this landscape for its vast horizons and layered histories, he treats the river as a metaphor for perpetual cycles of ending and renewal.
For Kander, the series becomes more than just photographs – they reflect the weight of London’s past, its waters bearing witness to countless generations who have voyaged, fought, traded, loved, lived, and died on its banks. As the Thames reaches the estuary, it widens, softens, and slows, almost exhausted by the weight of London’s history it has carried. Travelling alone in the dark and returning at nightfall, he renders the estuary not only as a geographical site but as a mystical, otherworldly realm.
“When alone, there is nowhere I’d rather be than beside large bodies of slow-moving water. I feel myself, quiet and alive as emotions come and go”, says Kander.
Colour Fields
Kander often explores the tension between revealing and concealing, drawn to the intrigue of what lies hidden in the mist and darkness.
Though the Colour Fields series takes its name from modernist abstract painting, the images resist full abstraction. Instead, Kander invites the viewer into spaces that are at once recognisable and strange. Here, he presents views that cannot exist naturally: “There is no natural lighting circumstance that would render a field falling into darkness – these are manmade views, lit by manmade light”, says Kander. “Simple planes of colour and texture are brought forward, greatly reducing any reference to nature”.
The result is a series of works that explore the expressive potential of photography.
Treow (Trust and Promise)
Titled Treow (Trust and Promise) – an Old English word which not only means ‘tree’ but ‘trust’ and ‘promise’, the series was born at a time of uncertainty amid the pandemic. Photographing dormant trees in winter – a season Kander has long favoured for its quiet, turned-away quality – he depicts them as patient, cyclical beings, waiting for renewal. Made through a meticulous photographic etching process, these prints return photography to a tactile form. For Kander, these ancient trees become meditative figures, inviting audiences to reflect on our shifting relationship with nature and to contemplate new ways forward in uncertain times.
Speaking of Treow, Kander says: “We all know and feel that we are living in turbulent times. Big changes seem imminent. There is more anxiety in all our societies than ever before. Whether it is the climate emergency, politics, or inequality that drives this discomfort, it is at once personal to each of us and collective too. This time can also be seen as full of potential, potential for a new way forward that is inclusive, less divisive, and a society becoming less individualistically driven by money”.
