Still Life: Photographs & Love Stories

A dreamlike exploration of intimacies and memory rendered in powerful photographs and lyrical texts, featuring an interview by Arooj Aftab and an afterword by Tessa Thompson.

“A sublime, aching collection of images.” — Chan Marshall (Cat Power)

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 delivers a meditation on love and its ability to weather the brutal specificities of life, death, family and race in America. Pairing intimate photographs with poetic, lyrical writings, Still Life is a hypnagogic narrative that unfolds in a series of overlapping episodes and identities, a testament to one artist's commitment to creation and a dreamlike blend of the personal and the universal.

"From the joys of family (in all its complexity), and romance to the sorrows of loss and tragedy, Still Life offers a profound exploration of Black identity and the complexities of the human experience. A testament to Sterlin’s unwavering artistic vision, this book is a poignant blend of the personal and the universal." - F Stop Magazine, 2024

"Kate Sterlin's first book immediately establishes a singular new voice in the contemporary photographic landscape." Réponses, 2024

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’s​ Love, 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 past​ credits 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.

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