Inside the hidden archives of America's mass shootings
On 14 December, 2012, Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and shot and killed 26 people, most of them under the age of seven, before killing himself.
Two weeks earlier, I had just returned to the US after living in Istanbul for six years.
Having recently published my first monograph of photographs from far-flung locations, I felt like it was time to try and interpret my own home.
Then came Sandy Hook. I remember the day acutely, the complicated emotions of transition and tragedy embedding themselves in my soul.
Over the following year I thought seriously about the cloud that hangs over this country and how I could explore it as a visual storyteller.
I started visiting sites of mass shootings – from Columbine to Sandy Hook – in a bid to understand the cycle of violence overwhelming America.
Commemorative balloons released into the sky.
You might like
The real nightlife of Vice City
Timeless photographs of everyday Harlem ’90s life
Uptown Odyssey — Gerald Cyrus’s new photobook collates cinematic shots of the neighbourhood’s street life and jazz bars, capturing the vibrancy of the bygone era.
Meet Italy’s new generation of gabber and hardcore warriors
Bergamo Hardcore — Photographers GabriTVB and Tchane’s new photo series follows Gen Z revivalists of the subculture and musical style, which broke through the country in the mid-’90s.
Tank tops and akimbo wielding as Lara Croft came to town
Tomb Raider 30 — As the legendary video game celebrated her 30th birthday, around 80 superfans took part in a cosplay competition at her birthplace of Derby. Hatti Rex and Emily Rose England met some of the participants and found out what gaming’s greatest woman character means to them.
Halloween in Brooklyn, photographed over 50 years
Spirits and soul — Larry Racioppo’s new book documents half a century of the October festivities in New York, while tracing the city’s ever-changing character.
Cruising on the West Side Piers, New York’s wild side
West Side Highway — In the late 20th century, the area was an if-you-know-you-know hotspot for the city’s gay scene. William Howell’s new photobook immortalises it.
