The Photographer's forthcoming book, published by Yoffy Press and FW books contrasts the romanticization of the American West with present-day personal, cultural and political realities.

In 2013, Jon Horvath stumbled upon "Bliss" the population-of 300, rural Idaho town and metaphors were born. During a period of introspection, Horvath embarked on a series of photographs that reflect what he describes as "how entrenched mythologies of place and traditional mythologies of happiness collide." Breaking from voyeuristic explorations of small town America, This is Bliss is a search for marks of success, perfection, idealism and hope.

Horvath expresses this through an eclectic mix of color and black+white portraiture, sweeping landscapes and found imagery, ending in what feels like an existential ellipses without resolve. A few days shy of Horvath's Kickstarter fundraiser ending (have we said yet that you should get this book?) we caught up to learn more about his journey.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Jon Horvath

PostedNovember 15, 2021

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesArtists, Art News, interviews, Photobooks, Portfolio, Publications

Tags2021 photobooks, Yoffy Press, FW: Books, Jon Horvath, Contemporary Landscape Photography, small town photography, new photography, photobooks, travel photography, roadtrip photography, Bliss, Bliss Idaho

© Amani Willett. From A Parallel Road — © Amani Willett. From *A Parallel Road*

Amani Willett’s new book A Parallel Road challenges the glamorized narratives of the American road trip with experiences shaped by fear and violence.

The American road trip is a privileged photographic and literary rite of passage. Coming of age on the open road, it's largely a trope of carefree travel primarily enjoyed by white Americans. Photographers Robert Frank and Jacob Holdt, whose work pointed to racial, economic, and social inequality in the American landscape, did so with unfettered access – without fear of racist violence. And while Frank, who was Jewish, was likely in danger of antisemitic attacks, his ability to pass as white made his experience far less vulnerable.

A Parallel Road, published by Overlapse Books, offers an alternate history, traversing many Black Americans' experiences driving on American roads for the past 85 years. Based on conversations with friends and family about their histories, he pairs archival illustrations, maps, and vernacular images with his own photographs to present a haunting picture that raises new questions with every page. As the United States continues to see state-sanctioned violence against people of color on the road, A Parallel Road asks how long it will remain an expanse of terror.

I spoke with Willett to learn more about his experience, and to dive deeper into the process behind making the book.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Amani Willett

PostedJanuary 11, 2021

AuthorJon Feinstein

CategoriesPhotobooks, Artists, Art News

TagsAmani Willett, A Parallel Road, Driving while Black in the United States, Green Book, Overlapse Books, photobooks, photography and race in America, Roy DeCarava

Self Evident Truths: 10,000 Portraits of Queer America © iO Tillet Wright — *Self Evident Truths: 10,000 Portraits of Queer America* © iO Tillet Wright

Roula Seikaly speaks with iO Tillet Wright about Self Evident Truths, his ten-year project (and now photography book) of 10,000+ humanizing portraits documenting people in the USA that identify as ANYTHING OTHER than 100% straight.

I was champagne-drunk while listening to United States President-elect Joseph R. Biden formally address the nation on November 7th. It was also my birthday, and there was much to celebrate. When I heard him include trans and queer Americans in a long list of people to whom he owes this victory, as though he was naming family members, I cried. I thought of my transgender wife and all of our friends in queer and other marginalized communities for whom the previous four years particularly have been terrifyingly fraught, and how it may be slightly easier to breathe now.

With that in mind, it’s a pleasure to introduce this interview with photographer iO Tillet-Wright. In 2010, Tillet-Wright embarked on a nationwide project to photograph people who are generally lumped into the category “LGBTQIA++,” which the photographer/activist rightly calls out for how it generalizes the otherwise glorious variations within queer communities.

10 years and 10,000 portraits later, the project Self Evident Truths: 10,000 Portraits of Queer America celebrates individuality that is barely contained within the photographic frame and holds immeasurable possibilities beyond a clumsy acronym. Published by Prestel this October, the 544-page book is monumental for its size, scope, and content - “10,000 faces of survival, charisma, and charm” - alike.

Roula Seikaly in conversation with iO Tillet-Wright

PostedNovember 12, 2020

AuthorRoula Seikaly

CategoriesArt News, Artists, Galleries, Photobooks

TagsiO Tillet-Wright, Roula Seikaly, New Photography, Self Evident Truths, photobooks, queer identity and photography, empathetic portraiture, Contemporary Portraiture

“There’s No Such Thing As Normal.” Taken from Carnal Knowledge, Prestel, 2020. Photo © Elizabeth Renstrom — “There’s No Such Thing As Normal.” Taken from *Carnal Knowledge,* Prestel, 2020.
Photo © Elizabeth Renstrom

Zoe Ligon and Elizabeth Renstrom's new book Carnal Knowledge (Prestel, September 2020) updates and normalizes sex education - a topic that is still sensitive in 21st century America. For many Americans, it’s a subject that was excluded from the core curriculum and is vital to our overall health and happiness.

Longtime friends Zoe Ligon and Elizabeth Renstrom are a writer and photographer dream team. Ligon brings years of experience as a sex educator, journalist, and performer to this project in seven sharply-crafted chapters that address everything you've ever wanted to know about sex. This ranges from the basic human anatomy and the importance of healthy relationships to sex toys and supporting sex worker rights. Renstrom's vivid, 90s aesthetic-influenced photographs complement the hilariously frank text.

Without further delay…

Roula Seikaly in Conversation with Zoe Ligon and Eizabeth Renstrom

PostedSeptember 17, 2020

AuthorRoula Seikaly

CategoriesPhotobooks, Artists, Art News, Galleries

Tagssex education, Elizabeth Renstrom, Zoe Ligon, sex ed, Carnal Knowledge book, 2020 Photobooks, photobooks, Prestel Publishers

Kiliii Yuyan on living off-road and photographing Arctic communities with an indigenous lens

Few photographers spend more time on the road than Kiliii Yuyan, who travels up to 300 days a year. A Maryland-born descendent of both Nanai (Siberian Native) and Chinese immigrants, he roams the Arctic to live alongside and document Indigenous populations whose customs and cultures often remind him of his own ancestors.

Aside from the intrepid feat of Yuyan’s images—they require long flights and rocky boat rides into sub-zero climates, and living in remote villages— his work accomplishes something rarely found in “extreme travel photography.” His pictures do not strain to be “epic” in subject-matter. Instead, the scenes are often quiet and isolated. But his graphically assembled compositions, with strong lines and interwoven positive and negative shapes, bring forth an image that demands to be looked at with a tender and curious eye. This flips the awestruck, aloof, and often predatory Western gaze that traces back to the earliest days of travel photography.

Yuyan, who now lives in Seattle, is a member of Natives Photograph and a 2020 Nia Tero Storytelling Fellow, a yearlong program for Indigenous creatives. Quarantine has grounded much of his travels, but it hasn’t stopped him from shooting new work and publishing a book, “Chukotka,” out this year through Kris Graves Projects.

We talked to Yuyan about living on the road, photographing people who live off of the land, and approaching every project with an Indigenous lens.

Quinn Russell Brown in conversation with Kiliii Yuyan

PostedAugust 20, 2020

AuthorQuinn Russell Brown

CategoriesArtists, Photobooks, Portfolio

TagsKiliii Yuyan, Quinn Russell Brown, arctic photography, indigenous photography, Natives Photograph, Chukotka, Kris Graves Projects, photobooks, 2020 photobooks, photographing indigenous communities, National Geographic Photographers, travel photography, ethical documentary photography

Get This Photobook: Jon Horvath's This Is Bliss Looks at a Small Town as a Symbol of Personal and Political Idealism

The American History of Driving While Black

10 Years and 10,000 Portraits of Queer America

This Photobook is the Sex Education You Missed in High School

Finding Homeland Through Ice and Snow