Photographs Before Climate Change: ‘Moments Before The Flood’

In trying to understand the tension Carl de Keyzer seeks to present in his images of European coastlines, look to the World War II bunkers, tank traps and crumbling walls still present by the shore for starting points.

The decaying fortifications, much like the human response to rising ocean tides as examined by de Keyzer in his new book, Moments Before The Flood, are telling. They anticipate a massive threat, but cannot hope to prevent it: rising sea levels that would submerge entire countries in Europe present an overwhelming challenge to which most solutions are futile.