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Camilo José Vergara
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Camilo José Vergara

Camilo José Vergara was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 2002, served as a Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers fellow at the New York Public Library in 2007–2008, and received a Berlin Prize Fellowship in 2010. In 2013, he became the first photographer to be awarded the National Humanities Medal. For more than four decades he has devoted himself to photographing and systematically documenting the poorest and most segregated communities in urban America. His focus is on established East Coast cities such as New York, Newark, and Camden; rust-belt cities of the Midwest like Detroit and Chicago; and West Coast cities such as Los Angeles and Richmond, California. Approximately 1,200 of Vergara’s photographs are available online at the Library of Congress. (Author photograph by Lanz) icon

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Picturing the Lost

By Camilo José Vergara

In segregated neighborhoods throughout New York, memorials to those claimed by COVID-19 have appeared and evolved.

Smiling Donors, Bored Recipients: Free Food In America

By Camilo José Vergara

People lining up for free food are often tired, bored, and shabbily dressed ...

“Detroit Is No Dry Bones”: Photos of a Surviving City

By Camilo José Vergara

In February, just after a big snowstorm, I revisited Detroit. It was my second trip ...

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