Underworlds takes readers on a captivating visual odyssey to the underbelly of everything, beginning with depictions of life and natural systems existing beneath the surface of the Earth and ending with imagery that emanates from the depths of our subconscious. Work by world-renowned artists—from Peter Paul Rubens and René Magritte to contemporary artists such as Kara Walker and Roger Ballen—is featured alongside recently unearthed images from archives around the world. Expertly curated, themed, and paired by image alchemist Stephen Ellcock, these remarkable depictions evoke the underworlds—both real and imagined—that have fascinated humankind for millennia.
From the burrows and secret bunkers beneath our feet to imagined hellscapes and surrealist dreamscapes, the disquieting, alarming,and wonderful visuals span natural and constructed subterranea and imagined and subconscious worlds. The works of art featured range from the scientific and photographic to the surreal and visionary. A personal introduction by Ellcock together with contextual chapter introductions establish key themes while panel texts elucidate essential concepts, historical events, and figures. Thought-provoking literary, philosophical, and spiritual quotations punctuate the intriguing images.
Together, the arresting images and authoritative text highlight the interplay between the real and the imagined, revealing how the real has informed our imagination, and conversely how our imagination has depicted the esoteric, the abject, and the unknown.
Reviews
An eclectic yet coherent collection of images ranging from dizzying ossuaries, to nightmarish animals of the deep sea, to the soothing colors of agates, to the sophisticated structures of mycorrhizal fungi… The result is a dreamlike atmosphere and a trove of information that will leave readers with a newfound connection to the realms below us.
— BookPage (starred review)
Contributors
Stephen Ellcock
Author
Stephen Ellcock is a renowned image collector whose online “cabinet of curiosities”—an ever-expanding, virtual museum of art that is open to all via social media—has attracted more than 633,000 followers worldwide. His most recent book, Underworlds: A Compelling Journey Through Subterranean Realms, Real and Imagined, was published in the United Kingdom, United States, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. He is also the author of The Cosmic Dance: Finding Patterns and Pathways in a Chaotic Universe.
