Confronting an inhuman world

The Anthropocene is a concept that enables us to map the accelerating planetary effects of technologically mediated human culture. An encounter with this geo-historical period also decentres and dismantles the human, challenging our conventions of thought and perception. Faced with the absence of a familiar world, and the sudden presence of a world impossible to picture, how might we find immediate expressions of a deep inhuman time? This question will be considered with reference to contemporary photography and particularly Trevor Paglen’s ‘Last Pictures’ project.