The 1619 Project: A Visual Experience Hardcover by Nikole Hannah-Jones (Author), The New York Times Magazine (Author).
An illustrated edition of The 1619 Project, with newly commissioned artwork and archival images, The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning reframing of the American founding and its contemporary echoes, placing slavery and resistance at the center of the American story.
Here, in these pages, Black art provides refuge. The marriage of beautiful, haunting and profound words and imagery creates an experience for the reader, a wanting to reflect, to sit in both the discomfort and the joy, to contemplate what a nation owes a people who have contributed so much and yet received so little, and maybe even, to act.—Nikole Hannah-Jones, from the Preface
Curated by the editors of The New York Times Magazine, led by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, this illustrated edition of The 1619 Project features seven chapters from the original book that lend themselves to beautiful, engaging visuals, deepening the experience of the content. The 1619 Project: A Visual Experience offers the same revolutionary idea as the original book, an argument for a new national origin story that begins in late August of 1619, when a cargo ship of people stolen from Africa arrived on the shores of Point Comfort, Virginia. Only by reckoning with this difficult history and understanding its powerful influence on our present can we prepare ourselves for a more just future.
Filled with original art by thirteen Black artists like Carrie Mae Weems, Calida Rawles, Vitus Shell, Xaviera Simmons, on the themes of resistance and freedom, a brand-new photo essay about slave auction sites, vivid photos of Black Americans celebrating their own forms of patriotism, and a collection of archival images of Black families by Black photographers, this gorgeous volume offers readers a dynamic new way of experiencing the impact of The 1619 Project.
Complete with many of the powerful essays and vignettes from the original edition, written by some of the most brilliant journalists, scholars, and thinkers of our time, The 1619 Project: A Visual Experience brings to life a fuller, more comprehensive understanding of American history and culture.
The cover image is from Point Comfort, showing turbulent and dark waters. It bears multi-directional witness— the oncoming and historical impact of what the slave trade will do/did to our country. Since The 1619 Project was published previously, we focused on the date to denote the "visual" nature of the book and allow that impact to arrest the viewer.
The interior design's grid and reading structure give a nod to the NYT Magazine with its high and tight columns. There also needed to be a sense of wow, poignant use of scale shifts, and textural weight. With a subject matter so deep, emotionally resonant, and intense, giving the viewer a very clear, streamlined, and balanced reading experience helps aid in the processing. The blue section openers allow for a sense of hope and calm. The black background sections honor Blackness and allow the art and photo essays to rise and radiate—proud, documented, remembered. The image pacing was purposeful, dynamic, mirrored, and complex, like the continual impacts of slavery to this day. Working closely in collaboration with the NYTM, each spread was workshopped and considered for the best meaning and accessibility.
- Designer and Art Director
- Brian Johnson
- Designer and Art Director
- Randa Hadi
- Designer and Art Director
- Silas Munro
- Picture Editor
- Jessica Dimson
- Photographer
- Charles White - JW Pictures
- Creative Director
- Gail Bichler
- Author
- Nikole Hannah-Jones
- Producer
- Caitlin Roper
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