Christopher Anderson's 'Index' Gathers War, Trump, and Family Photographs

Photographer Christopher Anderson's new book 'Index', published by Stanley/Barker, compiles work spanning conflict zones, the Trump administration, and his family. The eleven-volume set includes photojournalism, portraiture, family, street photography, and selfies, arranged deliberately without hierarchical curation. Anderson, born in Canada and raised in west Texas, gained recognition in 1999 after photographing Haitian immigrants whose boat sank, earning the Robert Capa Gold Medal in 2000. He later shot for New York Magazine and Vanity Fair, where his unretouched portraits of the Trump administration went viral. Becoming a father in 2008 led to personal work published in three books: Son, Pia, and Marion. Based in Paris since 2019, Anderson describes the book as akin to opening forgotten boxes in a studio, acknowledging kinship with William Eggleston's 'The Democratic Forest'. The volume includes an imagined conversation with Werner Herzog. Anderson reflects on the archive's shifting meanings and expresses readiness to be surprised by photography again.