When Home Is a Photograph

“It is impossible to read Leigh Raiford’s tour de force and ever think of world-making without the image ever again. When Home Is a Photograph is not just a masterpiece for the history of photography, black studies, and the humanities, it is a landmark necessary to understand the extraordinary act now seen as an everyday encounter—how photography allows us to craft a home in the world.”—Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and African and African American Studies, Harvard University

“A major contribution to visual studies focusing on concepts of reimagining home as it explores how Black people throughout the diaspora used photography to make ‘home’ despite displacement and migration. Raiford draws on the archives of activists, writers, artists and photographers to invite us to consider political and familial connections and the unseen in imaging home. It’s as burdened by conflicted histories, as it is rich with possibilities of love, and a captivating read.”—Deborah Willis, New York University