As a final project in Fall of 2023, I created an artist's book titled Seen, Double, which compares art and documentary photography and explores the line between the two. To do this, I used my own family photos, dating back to my great grandmother, and compared them with well known photos from the same time periods and done in similar styles. Paired with text that I found to match up with themes either present in the photos themselves or in the creation of them, I hope to lessen the harsh delineation between art and documentary in photography.

The following is the introduction text seen on the first page of the book:


The line between documentation and art in photography has long been a contested one: What makes a photo a work of art? When does the world around us become the subject of something greater? With cameras in hand, are we all artists, or are we all documentarians, or is it just in our nature to hold onto what we see, passing it on to the future for some hope of understanding or relation?

The following collection of photos brings together photos-as-art and photos-as-document, each made using similar methods at similar times.

The difference between art and documentary is in what you believe you're looking at.


The final book was printed on off-white cardstock and bound accordion-style, allowing it to be spread out as one long piece or flipped through with individual pages.