Diana Markosian's Santa Barbara brings together staged scenes, film stills, and family pictures in an innovative and compelling hybrid of personal and documentary storytelling. In 1996, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Markosian's mother, Svetlana, placed a classified ad in a Los Angeles newspaper: "I want to see America, and meet a kind man who can show me the country," she wrote. One man who responded was from Santa Barbara, California, and their correspondence led to Svetlana becoming a mail-order bride, fleeing her increasingly dreary prospects in post-Soviet Moscow with seven-year-old Markosian and her older brother in tow. This book is a retelling of the family's first years in the US, imagined as an episode from the soap opera Santa Barbara--the first American show allowed on Russian television in the 1990s. For many families, including Markosian's, this soap opera symbolized the opportunities of America and the West; for her project, Markosian wrote a script in collaboration with one of the original Santa Barbara writers and hired actors to reenact moments from her personal history. A major exhibition of this work, including a three-channel film presentation, will open at Rencontres d'Arles in July 2020, in advance of a fall 2020 exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Gillian Laub's photographs of her family from the past twenty years, now collected in one volume, explore the ways society's biggest questions are revealed in our most intimate relationships. Family Matters zeroes in on the artist's family as an example of the way Donald Trump's knack for sowing discord and division has impacted communities, individuals, and households across the country. As Laub explains, "I began to unpack my relationship to my relatives--which turned out to be much more indicative of my relationship to the outside world than I had ever thought, and the key to exploring questions I had about the effects of wealth, vanity, childhood, aging, fragility, political conflict, religious traditions, and mortality." These issues became tangible in 2016, when Laub and her parents found themselves on opposing sides of the most divisive presidential election in recent US history; and further exacerbated in the lead-up to the 2020 election, in the wake of a global pandemic and protests in support of Black Lives Matter. Family Matters reveals Laub's willingness to confront ideas of privilege and unity, and to expose the fault lines and vulnerabilities of her relatives and herself. Ultimately, Family Matters celebrates the resiliency and power of family--including the family we choose--in the face of divisive rhetoric. In doing so, it holds up a highly personalized mirror to the social and political divides in the United States today.

"An essential guide."--Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Santa Barbara General Hospital Days of our lives.

A memoir by photographic artist Jona Frank told in captivating stories and poignant images with a cast of actors, including Laura Dern and Imogene Wolodarsky, Cherry Hill tells the story of one girl's suburban youth and deliverance. Cherry Hill is a multimedia memoir of photographic artist Jona Frank's upbringing in--and flight from--a stifling suburban household. Told in words and evocative photographs, Frank's account of her childhood struggles with a repressive mother, mentally ill brother, and overwhelming expectations is leavened with episodes from her rich interior world. Akin to a graphic novel, this hybrid of personal essay and photography breaks open the memoir format, detailing the life of a young artist as she spends her days dreaming of a friendship with Emily Dickinson, longing for Bruce Springsteen and eschewing the rules of femininity. Frank employs a cinematic approach to construct vivid scenes from her youth. Using elaborately dressed sets, era-specific wardrobes, and multiple actors to portray herself as a child, Frank refashions her memories into vibrant tableaux. Strikingly, Frank cast Academy Award-winning actor Laura Dern in the role of her strict and complicated mother in a performance as bravura as her film and television work. As Frank outgrows the confines of her environment and suffocating domestic life, discovering art and photography as the path to her personal fulfillment, she plots her ultimate escape. A unique photographic storytelling project reminiscent of such classics as Fun Home and The Best We Could Do, Cherry Hill is an intimate self-portrait of what it takes to break free of convention and answer the question, "Who am I meant to be?"

A vivid showcase of work by more than thirty of the world's leading contemporary female documentary photographers. The photographic industry - its exhibitions, galleries, publications and auctions - employs thousands of women, but champions mostly men. To begin to redress the balance, here is a timely presentation of the work of over 30 female photographers working today. This book is predominantly a celebration of some of the most inquisitive, intelligent and daring photography being created now. The stories the photographers tell are the most pressing social, political and personal issues seen through the female lens. Firecracker, established in 2011 by Fiona Rogers, is a platform dedicated to supporting female photographers worldwide by showcasing their work. Building upon Firecracker's foundations, this book brings together photography that encompasses an eclectic variety of styles, techniques and locations, from Alma Haser's futuristic series of portraits that use origami to create 3D sculptures within the frame, to Laura El-Tantawy's filmic and intensely personal series on political protest in Cairo. There is a recurring theme throughout the book that serves to unite these extraordinary women and their work: the exploration of marginalized individuals and under-discussed subjects, seen by fresh eyes. Fiona Rogers and Max Houghton offer insightful and expert authorship and curation. In their respective, well-established roles in the industry they understand, influence and advocate for contemporary documentary photography today.