Essays

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Erik Kessels Celebrates the Mistakes of Amateurs

With relentless optimism, the artist considers the value of mediocrity.

Larry Sultan’s California Home Theater

In the Bay Area photographer’s retrospective, family, home life, and American suburbia take center stage.

Dispatches: Istanbul

In Istanbul’s photography scene, the anxious aftermath of a violent year.

The Surreal Landscapes of California City

From the air, photographer Chang Kim discovers a city that never was.

Black and White America

The civil rights-era photographs of Louis Draper and Leonard Freed shed light on the complex lives of African Americans.

Along the Route of Fidel's Funeral

When Fidel Castro died in November, photographer Noah Friedman-Rudovsky followed the final journey of Cuba’s comandante.

Sex Wars Revisited

An early platform for lesbian photography, On Our Backs was instrumental in shaping a culture of desire.

Beyond the Wall

Is the U.S.-Mexico border a political calculation or a humanitarian crisis?

Work, Politics, Survival

Jo Spence rejected categorizing labels of her work and practice and preferred to wander.

Our Bodies, Online

An emerging guard of young, female photographers carves out a new brand of feminism.

Beyond Binary

What does photography offer the trans feminism movement?

The Radical Power of the Black Feminine Gaze

Carrie Mae Weems’s feminist vision has never been more timely.

Midnight in Bamako

In search of the late Malick Sidibé and the rhythmic roots of his legendary photographs.

Listening for Eggleston

A profile of the pioneering artist and his passion for music.
Still from An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, 2012

Vision & Justice Online: 3 Reflections on Cinema and Archives

Catherine Gund, Shola Lynch, and Franklin Leonard discuss pioneers of cinema, African American archives, and the definitive films about black experience.

Vision & Justice Online: Nicole R. Fleetwood on Prison Portraits

In America’s sprawling correctional system, how do prisoners and their families represent themselves though photography?

Queer Photography: A Reflection

Vince Aletti recalls Tomorrow’s Man, Peter Hujar, James Dean, and the thrill of discovering queer pictures.

Vision & Justice: Around the Kitchen Table

Five voices from the fields of theater, photography, and art history to reflect on one of Carrie Mae Weems’s most iconic projects.
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Aperture Magazine No. 261, “The Craft Issue” Cover
Aperture Magazine

Aperture No. 261

Aperture’s issue on craft features photographers who make pictures the slow way—building camera obscuras, creating photograms, and laboring in traditional darkrooms to make handmade, unrepeatable forms.

$22.46 1Read more