Since the 1970s, the radical eye of photographer Miron Zownir has captured the worlds that exist in the shadows of urban areas in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, and post Communist Eastern Europe. His Expressionistic black and white portraits capture the morbid dignity of misfits, the homeless, freaks, and whores that exists somewhere between self-determination and self-destruction, desolation and personal obsession. Miron Zownir's visual language smolders with existential intensity. His photographic research documents a world of unconditional authenticity, dire ecstasy, and demonical possession and takes viewers to the limit of what they can tolerate. The German-Ukrainian photographer, filmmaker, and author's work has been featured in international group exhibitions and renowned publications. Critcs have compared his style of to that of avant-garde icons Nan Goldin, Joel-Peter Witkin, Nobuyoshi Araki, and Weegee as well as Cindy Sherman. The Valley of the Shadow is a 144-page collection of work by a photographer who is just as controversial as he is uncompromising and poetic.