Renowned photographer Richard Misrach has released a compelling new photobook titled "Richard Misrach: Cargo" (Aperture, 2025), featuring 75 large-format photographs that document the massive container ships traveling through San Francisco Bay between 2021 and 2024. The collection presents an epic portrait of global commerce and its environmental impact, revealing what the artist describes as "the proverbial elephant in the room" - the omnipresent yet largely ignored vessels that serve as the backbone of modern globalization and neoliberalism.

Misrach's latest work represents a return to San Francisco Bay, where he previously created his acclaimed "Golden Gate" series beginning in 1997. That earlier project showcased the iconic bridge in jewel-toned photographs that evoked a Romantic ideal both sublime and subversive, drawing comparisons to 19th-century British painter J.M.W. Turner's seascapes that chronicled empire's struggle against nature. A quarter-century later, Misrach has shifted his focus to the monumental ships sailing in and out of the Port of Oakland, creating what he describes as an "epic portrait of place" that recalls Claude Monet's 1872 painting "Impression, Sunrise," which gave its name to a revolutionary new way of seeing.

The Pacific Ocean, covering 155 million square kilometers and representing one-third of Earth's surface area - larger than all continents combined - serves as the dramatic backdrop for these photographs. Its vastness is so immense that global maps typically split it in half, as though it defies complete conceptualization. Misrach's hypnotic images capture this enormity while simultaneously documenting the industrial behemoths that traverse these waters daily.

"Cargo was a celebration of extraordinary light - the atmosphere of Golden Gate," Misrach explains. "I literally fixed my 8x10 camera the same and didn't move it at all. The change every day is not my perspective but the weather changing in different and beautiful ways." This methodical approach allows the natural elements - shifting light, changing weather patterns, and atmospheric conditions - to transform each photograph while maintaining a consistent viewpoint of the maritime traffic.

However, beneath the aesthetic beauty lies a deeper critique of contemporary capitalism and environmental destruction. "At the same time, Cargo is a portrait of neoliberalism reaching its pathological conclusion, following the principle of profit over people," Misrach notes. The cargo ships represent what he calls "a feat of engineering and commerce hiding in plain sight," vessels loaded with both goods and historical significance that have revolutionized global trade while contributing approximately 3% of global warming emissions.

"Cargo ships are loaded with history. They were a revolution in global trade, but at the same time 3% of global warming is caused by these ships," Misrach observes. "They're just so extraordinary, and they're also invisible. We've been driving past these things for years, and because they're omnipresent, we don't see them." This invisibility-through-ubiquity forms a central theme of the work, challenging viewers to confront the environmental and social costs of global consumer culture.

The photographs are deliberately ambiguous, meeting viewers where they are emotionally and intellectually - whether experiencing wonder at the mythical Pacific Ocean in all its glory or casting a critical eye at capitalism's insatiable armada making its way to shore. As Rebecca Sunlit writes in the book's introduction, "The ships are troublesome reminders of industrial civilization at its most aggressive, behemoths that cross the Pacific to feed American appetites for fuel and manufactured goods."

Misrach views his project as "the metaphorical tip of the iceberg, the rising tide of climate collapse relying on humanity's propensity for collective solipsism." The phrase "out of sight, out of mind" takes on particular resonance in this context, as these massive vessels continue their daily operations largely unnoticed by the millions of people whose lives they impact through the goods they carry and the environmental consequences of their journeys.

The artist describes his creative process as meditative and revelatory: "I'd go out there and watch the way the light illuminated these things like sculptures and that became a way to meditate on their purpose. When you do that, you start to unpack an encyclopedia of information and thought. There are issues there. I want people to meditate and think about it." This contemplative approach transforms industrial documentation into fine art while maintaining the work's critical edge and environmental message.

"Richard Misrach: Cargo" is now available through Aperture Publications, offering viewers an opportunity to confront the hidden realities of global commerce through the lens of one of America's most accomplished photographers. The book serves as both artistic achievement and environmental wake-up call, challenging audiences to see the familiar with fresh eyes and consider the true costs of our interconnected global economy.