The Notion of FamilyLaToya Ruby Fraziers award winning first book, The Notion of Family, offers an incisive exploration of the legacy of racism and economic decline in Americas small towns, as embodied by her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania. The work also considers the impact of that decline on the community and on her family, creating a statement both personal and truly politicalan intervention in the histories and narratives of the region. Frazier has compellingly

rich with detail and ambiguity—offering a layered portrait of a place shaped equally by natural grandeur and the slow erosion of economic promise

I went off to the hospital once more to sit by Andy’s side

the immemorial and factual remembrance of things

Ryan McGinley

Elm gathers impressions until an image of a world he can understand — and feel at home in — begins to take shape

and economics intersect

and the increasing wealth disparities in North America

and insights on photography—offering the workshop experience in a book

The resulting book includes 103 meticulously printed black-and-white photographs

Jafa reflects on the ontology of race and Blackness

including directors Alex Cox and Wim Wenders

but his lifelong commitment to writing is less well known