Autobiography of an Unknown American is, variously, a book of lamentation and a book of praise, a field guide to lost corners in their American ubiquity, and a sustained encounter with the sadness that American civilization in time shelters within itself. It is, in short, a dialogue of aftermaths and reckonings. The book combines contemplative large-format photographs by Jason Francisco made in journeys across the United States between 2014 and 2022, plus marooned vernacular photographs he collected along his journeys, and a lyric essay. Alexander Nemerov contributes ekphrastic poems in response to specific photographs, sewn into the sequence as mini chapbooks.
Forthcoming from Fall Line Press, 2025
List of places in order of appearance:
Oklahoma City, OK / Atlanta, GA / Winston-Salem, NC / San Francisco, CA / Pawhuksa, OK / Blacksburg, SC / Richmond, VA / Joseph City, AZ / Lindale, GA / Detroit, MI / Beaverdam, OH / Fall River, MA / Detroit, MI / Lindale, GA / Atlanta, GA / Toledo, OH / Gettysburg, PA / Lumberton, NC / Lindale, GA / Chester, PA / Spartanburg, SC / Washington, DC / Pocomoke, MD / Emporia, VA / South Bend, IN / Uniontown, PA / Las Vegas, NV / Yucca, AZ / Rossville, GA / Youngstown, OH / Rossville, GA / Port Royal, VA / Lumberton, NC / Spartanburg, SC / Memphis, TN / Spring City, TN / Campbell’s Corner, VA / Braddock, PA / Henderson, KY / Williston, FL / Great Dismal Swamp, NC / Nashville, TN