Record is Stefan Dotter’s first monograph documenting natural habitats and Indigenous communities in the Amazon, Borneo, and Madagascar. In 2021, Dotter embarked on a three-year photographic journey to deepen his understanding of the entwinement between human and nature. He was invited to document the transformative work of Health In Harmony, a nonprofit organization addressing deforestation by observing the voices and needs of Indigenous communities around the world’s most endangered rainforests. Dotter was able to produce a series of images across remote regions.

Designed by Jonny Lu Studio, the layout, design and typography of Record draws from the aesthetics of natural science documents and 20th-century field journals, many of which were aptly titled “Record.” The monograph cross-contextualizes Dotter’s photographic prints with essays along with his own personal reflections and observational notes during the expeditions.

Exploring further themes such as transparency, time, and polyphony, the book presents itself inside-out. In lieu of a hardcover, the artwork plates are wrapped by layers of fragile, semi-transparent paper stocks: a delicate outer shell intended to represent the way in which an interconnectedness between humankind and environment protects the planet. The result is an intimate and tactile object conceived in close relation to Dotter’s visual practice and speaks to the idea of “making record” in its many forms and stakes.