For the first time in the sale’s nine-year history, Magnum photographers have invited a diverse group of artists, filmmakers and fellow photographers to join them and contribute an image of their own to the Square Print Sale from now through April 23. 

Joining Magnum photographers and estates are the likes of Weegee, Roger Deakins, Alfredo Jaar, Hannah Reyes Morales, Larry Sultan, Todd Hido, Judd Apatow, and more. By involving leading figures from the world of art and culture more broadly, the agency seeks to explore photography — and what it means to our society today, and into the future — from new perspectives.  

Vital Signs is the third and final part of the Then. Now. Next. triptych, organized as part of the agency’s 75th-anniversary celebrations, which began last May with a series of events and shows around the theme ‘In Dialogue.’ Having already reflected on the past and raised questions about the present, this new curation is a look to the future — a musing on the hopes, fears, and anticipation of things to come. 

And it is no surprise that in the final of the agency’s triptych, many of the selected images focus on the next generation. Lindokuhle Sobekwa, the inaugural recipient of the major John Kobal Foundation Fellowship, selects an image of a young boy from Johannesburg taking a break in the fields, “This place is located in Phola Park, a section of Thokoza township. It is a place our parents described as a bloody battle place during the rival political wars in the 1990s, marking its historical significance.” 

Sabiha Cimen chooses an image from her award-winning first photobook, Hafiz, of students from a girls-only Quran school on a funfair ride. A plane flies so low over their heads, that it seems almost within their reach. “We can imagine a future far from now in paradise, but we should always be reminded that the tiny blue marble on which we live is already a Garden of Eden, light-years away from any other possible habitable worlds.” 

Sir Roger Deakins contributes a photograph from his sold-out photobook Byways (Damiani), “I saw the dog jumping after a thrown stick as I was walking the beach in Teignmouth. I managed to get two shots of him but the one where he looked at the camera was definitely my favorite. It’s funny, I was asked recently: ‘How many dogs were thrown off the promenade before you got the shot?’ Let me assure you, no dogs were thrown, and no dogs were harmed in taking this shot!” 

Vital Signs, Magnum and Friends Square Print Sale from now through April 23, available from https://www.magnumphotos.com/shop/