Downfall

(2024)

When people speak of ‘the end of the world’ what they really mean is the end of humanity, but in many of the scenarios we can imagine, the world will carry on without us.

Downfall is an experiment in speculative documentary, using synthetic imagery and a non-linear narrative to explore what the world after humankind might look like, and what might bring it about. These scenarios are based on extensive research into actual post-human environments, from the exclusion zones of Fukushima and Chernobyl, to the demilitarized zones of Korea and Cyprus.

Taking the part of a sole survivor of this event, the reader chooses their own route through the abandoned ruins of London. Along the way some of the factors which led to the downfall of humankind are revealed, from climate change and political extremism, to technological hubris and authoritarianism. The choice based narrative means each read through is unique, and both the locations visited and the precise combination of factors which led to the fall of human civilisation changes each time the book is explored.

Downfall is illustrated using AI generated images which show familiar landmarks of modernity overtaken by nature. Animals roam abandoned supermarkets, roads are flooded by rivers which have escaped their culverts, and wildfires rages through financial districts in this speculative vision of our world’s possible future.

View the Downfall photobook