Cover photograph by Ricardo Nagaoka
Roscoe Mitchell, Oakland, CA: David Black
Hope Jimmerson & Najave Jimmerson, Denver, CO: Widline Cadet
Derrick Washington & Kurt Gramm, Los Angeles, CA: Erica Deeman
Debbie Austin, Portland, OR: Lauren Angalis Field
Elisabeth Gambrell, Gerlach, NV: Katy Grannan
Dennis Yang, San Francisco, CA: Talia Herman
Teira Church, Los Angeles, CA: Texas Isaiah
Terina Taulogo, St. George, UT: Ricardo Nagaoka
Liz Otwell, Point Roberts, WA: Irina Rozovsky
Susan Pullman, Cardwell, MT: Marshall Scheuttle
California Sunday Magazine : The Way Home
Creative Director: Leo Jung
Photography Director: Jacqueline Bates
Art Directors: Annie Jen and Supriya Kalidas
Photography Editor: Paloma Shutes
Production Manager: Thomas Bollier
Heidi: What can you tell us about the audio footnotes?
Jacqueline: Our photography issue features very minimal text. We believe photographs tell their own stories, but we also wanted to give readers a multilayered storytelling experience. Every story is accompanied by audio footnotes so that readers can listen to the subjects in the photos and hear from them directly (you can check it out at californiasunday.com). Similarly, at our exhibition At Home: In the American West, on view from 12/6-1/4 at Aperture Foundation in New York City, people can choose to walk through the gallery as is or they can also listen along to the footnotes on their phone, which we think makes for an interesting experience.
Sound clips embedded here for “What they Carried: Eight Objects That Survived a Lifetime of Moves
Photographs by Carlos Chavarría
How did the photographers come to choose their subjects?
We commissioned 30+ photographers for this special issue, including Katy Grannan, Jim Goldberg, Erica Deeman, Texas Isaiah, Star Montana, Mark Steinmetz and Irina Rozovsky, just to name a few.
For our cover story, At Home, associate editor, Joy Shan, researched each state west of the Rocky Mountains and we looked into interesting, often overlooked, stories and events that were happening there—and how they related to our theme of “home.” We assigned photographers to one of the regions Joy researched, and from there, we gave them lots of breathing room and freedom to seek out stories of “home.” It was exciting to see the stories that came out of these journeys: In the mountains of Utah, we found a mother of four who designed her dream mansion with some help from Pinterest. In Oregon, we visited a woman who lost her house to foreclosure in 2013; convinced she would get the house back, she moved to an apartment four blocks down the street. We caught up with a screenwriter as he drifts between Los Angeles Airbnbs, and, in Seattle, we met a formerly homeless woman who has found stability and privacy in a tiny house of her own. And much, much more.
What made you focus on this particular theme?
With contentious immigration issues, wildfires, and housing prices dominating news cycles, the question of how people define “home” felt more important than ever. We wanted to dive into this subject and explore its complexities and richness.
How many images did each photographer turn in?
It was a range: For the photographers who shot on 4×5 film, their edits were tight (one or two options for each subject). But for others, who shot for weeks and were photographing many people, edits were much wider.
LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHERS
Ash Adams
Holly Andres
David Black
Erin Brethauer
Widline Cadet
Alejandro Cegarra
Carlos Chavarría
Natasha Dangond
Erica Deeman
Lauren Angalis Field
Brian L. Frank
Jim Goldberg
Katy Grannan
Michelle Groskopf
Gregory Halpern
Talia Herman
Tim Hussin
Texas Isaiah
Taylor Kay Johnson
Daniel Leivick
Pixy Liao
Justin Maxon
Sanaz Mazinani
Arlene Mejorado
Andrew Miksys
Star Montana
Ricardo Nagaoka
Ahndraya Parlato
Kristine Potter
Karen Miranda Rivadeneira
Irina Rozovsky
Marshall Scheuttle
Mark Steinmetz
Daniele Volpe