The critic and photo historian’s critical volume Latinx Photography in the United States: A Visual History fills in knowledge gaps and cuts news paths in researching, collecting, and exhibiting Latinx photography.

“The impetus for this book is derived from a basic fact: by and large, Latinx photographers are excluded from the documented record of the history of American photography.” From the prologue’s first sentence, readers are alerted to the content and critical framework of Elizabeth Ferrer’s extraordinary first full-length book. In its form, Latinx Photography in the United States, published by University of Washington Press resembles familiar titles such as Naomi Rosenblum’s A World History of Photography, but the scope is decidedly more focused.

Over ten exhaustively researched and written chapters, Ferrer identifies primary themes - representations of self, family, and community, geographical influences, archives, and the fight for social justice - that motivate Latinx artists, and form a narrative that parallels the canonical story of American photography from which they’ve been excluded. It’s an absorbing read, and a must for students and teachers of photography.

Elizabeth Ferrer graciously agreed to speak with me about the origins of this book, the joyful work of contacting the artists whose work is included in the book, and laying to rest any notion that Latinx photographers are simply absent from the medium’s complicated history.

Roula Seikaly in conversation with Elizabeth Ferrer