Questions Without Answers

This major work presents a remarkable sequence of photo-stories from pioneering photo agency VII, documenting world history as we have experienced it since the end of the Cold War. The 11 extraordinarily talented photographers who make up this agency work at the cutting edge of digital photojournalism, committed to recording social and cultural change as it happens around the world.

Questions Without Answers is an ambitious book featuring a strikingly broad selection of photo stories. Photos documenting Barack Obama giving a speech on Afghanistan to American troops sit alongside a collection of portraits featuring famous cultural figures such as David Bowie and Bernardo Bertolucci. We move from an exploration of the spread and impact of AIDS in Asia to dispatches from the current economic crisis and its effect on those working in finance. The crucial work done by VII in documenting conflict - environmental, social and political, both violent and non-violent - is also represented, including stories from the war in Iraq, the crisis in Darfur and the terrible events of 9/11.

With an introduction by the eminent David Friend, Vanity Fair's editor of creative development and the former director of photography of Life magazine, this book is an important, moving and compelling record of the world we live in.

About the Author

VII derives its name from the number of founding photo-journalists who, in September 2001, formed this collectively-owned agency. Designed from the outset to be an efficient, technologically advanced distribution hub for some of the world's finest photojournalism, VII has been responsible for creating and relaying to the world many of the images that define the turbulent opening years of the 21st century.

Now made up of 11 eminent photographers - John Stanmeyer, Marcus Bleasdale, Alexandra Boulat, Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Ed Kashi, Antonin Kratochvil, Joachim Ladefoged, Christopher Morris, Stephanie Sinclair and Franco Pagetti - VII remains committed to recording, not just the battlefield, but social and cultural change worldwide.

What unites VII's work is a sense that, in the act of communication at the very least, all is not lost; reparation is always possible; despair is never absolute.

David Friend, former director of photography at Life magazine, is Vanity Fair's editor of creative development. A successful author and editor, he has also curated a number of important exhibitions and created the Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards for Magazine Photography.