“Duplex,” a Posthumous Essay by Anthony Veasna So | The New Yorker

“Duplex,” a Posthumous Essay by Anthony Veasna So

I needed to make portraits that were heartbreaking. I needed to be great, worthy of the Western canon, of Dad.

via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/07/12/duplex

If I could resurrect the hungry ghost of Diane Arbus, I would show her the duplex photos hanging on my wall, three thousand miles away from Stockton. I’d tell Diane all about the tile Dad has laid with his bare hands, the foundation he cemented in grout for our sparkling new lives, how no one in our family will touch that tile with their bare feet. How we’ll never feel that morning coldness jolting our tired bodies into waking life.