Trending: The Photos the Have Defined the 21st Century, So Far
The end of the 2025 brought the usual array of photo collections looking back on the year. But the end of 2025 also meant we have reached the quarter-way mark of the 21st century, and a number of publications took the occasion to single out images that told the story of the era. The photos look back on everything form 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the catastrophic consequences of Hurricane Katrina, the rise of the selfie, the emergence of China as an economic power, the introduction of the iPhone, the force of the Black Lives Matter movement and the presidencies of Donald Trump. One site, Cultured, took a different approach and had photographers share photos they thought of as defining.
Weekend Update: 01.15.2026
Continuing: Billy Childish | keep the mojave weird at at Lehmann Maupin In his newest series based on a road trip in 2025, British painter, writer, and musician Billy Childish depicts the western United States in scenes from California. Seen together, the works occupy a space that is both contemporary and eternal, where each landscape feels familiar yet remote. From soaring mountain ranges, to arid desert, to verdant lakes, each image offers a narrative vignette th...

