Far From All That Allows

“The Photographing of America is a large order — read at all literally, the phrase would be an absurdity,” wrote Robert Frank in his application for a Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography in 1954. Six contemporary photographers following in Robert Frank’s footsteps, are well aware of the inherent absurdity of photographing the entire United States.

Instead of taking on the task alone, they are going at it together, working in collaboration while honing their individual perspectives. And in the process, they are forming a new wave in American photography. This limited-edition, seven-book set brings together photographers Zak Krevitt, Molly Matalon, Corey Olsen, Pat O’Malley, Tim Schutsky, and Caroline Tompkins — through the books’ editor, Joseph Maida, their mentor and fellow artist, who taught them as undergraduate students at New York’s School of Visual Arts from 2010-2014. Included in the set is a monographic volume by each photographer edited by Maida as well as a compilation book in which Maida constellates their work in a dynamic visual conversation through a thought-provoking edit and sequence.