For decades, photographer Kate Sterlin has made an artistic practice of examining the boundaries between individual, family, and community. In her first book, Still Life: Photographs & Love Stories, she uses intimacy in all its forms to tell a story of life, death, family, and race in America. Pairing lyrical photography with poetic writings, Still Life is a dreamlike narrative examining kinship and romance, friendships and tragedies, the complexities of Black identity, and personal and generational loss across a lifetime. It is a testament to one artist's commitment to creation and a profound blend of the personal and the universal.
To infuse the everyday with a sense of historical significance, poetry, and dignity is to affirm that the private lives we lead deserve inquiry, not only from others but from ourselves. To express the ineffable, to immortalize it in ink, is to prompt us to explore the things we’ve never dared to admit. Being interested in witnessing, summoning, and drawing close to those moments, as Kate has been for a lifetime, means being acutely aware that the fugitive present, in all its texture, will mostly be forgotten but always undeniably felt. With a loving, intimate record of it, we can begin to understand why. - Tessa Thompson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kate Sterlin is a photographer and writer whose work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Vogue. Stemming from formative experiences mentoring under acclaimed documentarian Mary Ellen Mark alongside her striking early snapshots of her father, she has developed dual bodies of work in street photography and portraiture that wend together to capture otherwise hidden stories. She has been exhibited in group and solo shows, and her film Sometimes has been shown at film festivals internationally. After a long period of working and living in New York City, she is currently based in Los Angeles, CA.
Arooj Aftab is a musician and multi-hyphenate creative whose repertoire includes music production and engineering as well as a sprawling vocal practice assembled in pursuit of what she adoringly refers to as “global soul.” She has delivered rapturous performances at such venues and events as the Newport Jazz Festival, Coachella, and Glastonbury, and has received praise from a constellation of publications and critics including The New York Times, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Time. Among her many accolades are five Grammy nominations (and one win, for 2022’s “Mohabbat”), a 2023 United States Artists Fellowship, and the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music.
Tessa Thompson is an award-winning actor and producer. She most recently reprised her role as Bianca in Creed III directed by Michael B. Jordan. In 2020, Thompson starred in Prime Video’s Sylvie’sLove, of which she was an executive producer. In 2021, she starred in the indie film Passing, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and she also served as an executive producer. Thompson’s pastcredits include Thor: Love and Thunder, Creed, Creed II, Men in Black: International, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame, Little Woods, Annihilation, Sorry to Bother You, Selma, Dear White People, and Westworld. Up next, Thompson will star in the titular role of Hedda Gabler in Nia DaCosta’s upcoming film Hedda for MGM’s Orion Pictures and Plan B. She will also produce via her own Viva Maude label, launched in 2020.
Anthology Editions is an independent book publisher based in Brooklyn, New York. An imprint of the record label Mexican Summer, Anthology is dedicated to uncovering and presenting new narratives via thoughtful, exceptionally designed publications in the fields of art, music, and pop culture history
