Joshua K. Jackson’s *Modern Paradox* is set against the backdrop of what the publisher describes as our new chaotic society, where overwhelming feelings of fear, anxiety, and loneliness coexist with the desire to draw closer to one another in hope of a better world. Published by Setanta Books in 2022, the book is a 96-page hardcover measuring 240 by 290 mm, with black painted edges, and contains 51 images. Jackson (b. 1984) is a British photographer based in London whose work focuses on life within cities, exploring the relationship between people and places through a visual language of colour and abstraction.

The publisher’s description frames the book around a central tension. Communication is easier than ever, yet loneliness abounds in overpopulated cities; love is sought online while hate flourishes in a virtual world that seems to grow as the physical one shrinks. Modernity promised freedom, but we seem to stumble from one crisis to another, at the mercy of invisible threats, caught between pundits on increasingly untrustworthy television sets and conspiracies proclaimed by even less trustworthy influencers. The more we learn, the less we seem to understand, and disconnection leaves us trapped in information overload.

Against that, the book holds out the value of real-life connection, made more meaningful for its scarcity: people joining together in protest, fighting for a better future, or gathering in joy, hands touching, celebrating victories and achievements. Hope, in this framing, is what keeps us from drifting apart and unites us despite the constant background noise.

The format supports this material: a large-format hardcover with black painted edges that frame the colour work decisively. It is a designed photobook rather than a portfolio in boards, and the scale invites slow looking. For readers drawn to photobooks that treat the page as an argument about how we live now, *Modern Paradox* is a sustained body of work by a photographer with a clear conceptual brief.