Inferno & Paradiso - by Alfredo Jaar (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A visual journey through horror and joy, Inferno & Paradiso confronts the moral tension between witnessing suffering and nurturing hope in a broken world.

Inferno & Paradiso is a powerful photographic and editorial project that confronts the fragile tension between horror and joy, pain and hope. Conceived by artist Alfredo Jaar and featuring works by 20 leading photojournalists, each contributor presents two images: one depicting the darkest aspects of human suffering, the other capturing a moment of pure, often unexpected joy. Originally created in response to Jaar's experience of the Rwandan genocide, the project resists apathy and indifference, challenging the spectator to engage with the complex emotional spectrum of our contemporary condition. With an immersive slide installation and a richly layered book, the work explores how images bear witness to reality while also asking fundamental questions about the possibility of happiness in a fractured world. Drawing inspiration from Dante and humanist theology, Inferno & Paradiso becomes a secular pilgrimage through human experience, paying homage to the moral courage of those who testify through images.

About the Author

Alfredo Jaar is an artist, photographer, architect, and filmmaker who lives and works in New York. His work has been shown extensively around the world. He has participated in the Biennales of Venice (1986, 2007, 2009, 2013), Sao Paulo (1987, 1989, 2010, 2021) as well as Documenta in Kassel (1987, 2002). Important individual exhibitions include The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (1992); Whitechapel, London (1992); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (1994); The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1995); and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome (2005). Major recent surveys of his work have taken place at Musée des Beaux Arts, Lausanne (2007); Hangar Bicocca, Milan (2008); Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlinische Galerie and Neue Gesellschaft fur bildende Kunst e.V., Berlin (2012); Rencontres d'Arles (2013); KIASMA, Helsinki (2014); Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK (2017); Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa (2020); SESC Pompeia, Sao Paulo (2021), Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima (2023), and KINDL, Berlin (2024). The artist has realized more than seventy public interventions around the world. Over 80 monographic publications have been published about his work. He became a Guggenheim Fellow in 1985 and a MacArthur Fellow in 2000. He received the Hiroshima Art Prize in 2018 and the Hasselblad Award in 2020. In 2024 he was awarded the IV Albert Camus Mediterranean Prize. He was recently selected as the recipient of the 2025 Edward MacDowell Medal. His work can be found in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum, New York; Art Institute of Chicago and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; MOCA and LACMA, Los Angeles; MASP, Museu de Arte de São Paulo; TATE, London; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Centro Reina Sofia, Madrid; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; MAXXI and MACRO, Rome; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlaebeck; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art and Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Japan; M+, Hong Kong; and dozens of institutions and private collections worldwide.