ohio

by Alec Soth, Brad Zellar

From May 17-24, Brad Zellar and I visited a dozen towns and cities throughout Ohio in search of community life. We went to soup kitchens and McDonalds, proms and churches, golf courses and cemeteries. Along the way we recorded the faces and voices of people longing to connect with their neighbors. We made some powerful connections too (Brad became a member of the Loyal Order of the Moose). To commemorate this remarkable trip, we’ve produced a newspaper a mere week after our return.

48 pages, 15×17” 50 lb newsprint paper

First published May 31, 2012

About the author

Alec Soth (b. 1969) is a photographer born and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has published over thirty books including Sleeping by the Mississippi (2004), NIAGARA (2006), Broken Manual (2010), Songbook (2015), I Know How Furiously Your Heart is Beating (2019), A Pound of Pictures (2022), and Advice for Young Artists (2024).

Soth has had over fifty solo exhibitions including survey shows organized by Jeu de Paume in Paris (2008), the Walker Art Center in Minnesota (2010), Media Space in London (2015), and the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (2024). Soth has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship (2013). In 2008, Soth created Little Brown Mushroom, a multi-media enterprise focused on visual storytelling. Soth is represented by Sean Kelly in New York, Weinstein Hammons Gallery in Minneapolis, Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco, Loock Galerie in Berlin, and is a member of Magnum Photos.

Reviews

[David Gallin-Parisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Photobook newspaper made by road tripping Alec Soth and Brad Zellar. Immediacy and midwest America shown over two weeks in May 2012. Fields of grass, darkness, people hanging out, and driving from small town to small town. Recommended for journalists, writers, photographers, and people looking for an America of this moment.

[Catherine Corman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am drawn, I'll admit, to the posture of the abject, and to those made fragile by their circumstances or loneliness

-Brad Zellar, ohio