Aperture 223: Vision & Justice

Guest edited by Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Vision & Justice addresses the role of photography in the African American experience.

This award-winning issue of Aperture magazine was released in summer 2016, in a political moment defined by the close of the Obama era and the steady rise of #BlackLivesMatter activism. As a racial reckoning continues in the United States, this powerful issue remains an essential resource for understanding the role of art in the movement for equity and social justice.

Rooted in the prescient thinking of Frederick Douglass, and his argument that social progress requires pictures, “Vision & Justice” includes a wide span of photographic projects by such luminaries as Lyle Ashton Harris, Sally Mann, Jamel Shabazz, Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, and Deborah Willis, as well as the brilliant voices of a younger generation―Devin Allen, Awol Erizku, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Deana Lawson, and Hank Willis Thomas, among many others. Their portfolios are complemented by essays from some of the most influential voices in American culture, including contributions by celebrated writers, historians, and artists such as Vince Aletti, Teju Cole, Ava DuVernay, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Margo Jefferson, Wynton Marsalis, and Claudia Rankine.