Deana Lawson

Lax features the portraits by photographer Deana Lawson of the family members of those who lost their lives during the mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston SC. For this body of work, Lawson brings her sense of intimacy forged from strangeness to an immediate history of violence, focusing her camera not on the ravages of the massacre, but rather on signs of physical affection among those who observe their loved ones every day. They hold hands, clutch bodies, and remind viewers that despite loss, the power of touch remains.