Aperture Magazine
#226, Spring 2017, American Destiny“In this contentious moment in history, the stories we tell are a social responsibility.” —Sandra Cisneros
How does the photographer navigate our new national order? As debates about the economic future of the United States continue into a controversial presidential administration, the spring issue of Aperture, “American Destiny,” offers an urgent reflection on photography, labor, and community. From agricultural workers to those toiling on the factory floor, from regional cities weathering years of postindustrial decline to refugee populations assimilating into the heartland, the photographers featured in this issue are bound by a desire to reveal how lives are shaped by the ebb and flow of the economy. “American Destiny” maps geographies of economic promises unfulfilled, weighing how the interrelated factors of class, sexism, education, shifting demographics, racism, and stagnant wages have influenced social life in the United States.
“American Destiny” features LaToya Ruby Frazier and Kellie Jones on the enduring images of the civil rights movement; Katy Grannan on the communities of California’s Highway 99; Rebecca Bengal on activist Chauncey Hare’s 1970s chronicle of American workers; Brian Wallis on the union hall agitator Fred Lonidier; plus contributions and portfolios by Garnette Cadogan, David Campany, Sandra Cisneros, Carolyn Drake, Jim Goldberg & Donovan Wylie, Gregory Halpern, Kathya Maria Landeros, Mark Neville, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Brian Sholis, Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa, and much more.
