paper cameras press, a publishing project, develops and prints co-authored curricula for studying photography practices and reimagining modalities of capture.
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paper cameras press holds photography accountable for the medium’s legacy of extractive capture, while it carries forward practices rooted in loving observation and aspires towards self-determined documentation. Each issue’s curriculum—its lessons, language, and tools—responds to the terms set by its co-authors, and each issue's practice—its printed props and paper cameras—invites readers to set their own scene for study.
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paper cameras press is organized by Katie Giritlian and is built while longing for the vibrant SWANA photo studio webs nested in homelands and scattered beyond in diaspora.1 Though paper cameras press produces curricula beyond this cultural and geographic scope, the imagining necessary for the press’s occurrence is inextricable from the possibilities forged by these studios and the pathways established by their cooperative processes.
1. South West Asian + North African.
SWANA is an imperfect alternative to
the colonial underpinnings of “Middle East.”
SWANA is an imperfect alternative to
the colonial underpinnings of “Middle East.”