The new topographics aim to show humanity’s effect on the natural world, in a more-or-less neutral perspective, in a format that is up to the viewer to determine. First conceptualised during the mid-1970s, the exhibitions featured various photographers connecting man-made structures to the world it was before – making use of various visual elements to create a thought-provoking, ground-breaking composition that displays both beauty in the fine geometric shapes of our structures, and the destruction that comes with it.

The new topographics were spearheaded by photographers such as Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel Jr., each artist creating 10 prints of their own.