Close to the Bayou

Shortlisted for a Communication Arts Typography Award. 

Close to the Bayou is a journey of artmaking in the face of death and explores what is passed on through that process.

When artist Dimitri Staszewski found out that his close friend and artistic mentor, renowned contemporary jewelry artist Thomas Mann was diagnosed with cancer, Staszewski made the decision to support Mann through that process. During Mann’s three-month treatment, he continued making work at a frenetic pace while Staszewski started documenting the physical and emotional space they were sharing.

The resulting book, Close to the Bayou is a visual memoir of a unique, creative, and singular person—Thomas Mann. Simultaneously, it is a book about Staszewski and a thoughtful meditation on illness, uncertainty, mentorship, and how the physical self and geographies hold us and anchor our memories.

 A year into the project, as Staszewski prepared to finish the book, life mirrored itself as he was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 29. As his own medical journey began, the work he had created suddenly took on new meaning. The question the book asks, “What does it mean to be close to the bayou?” was suddenly something he was forced to ask himself.

Dimitri Staszewski is a documentary photography and photojournalist interested in both lyrical and more literal expressions of the photographic medium. Bookmaking is central to his practice.

Author: Dimitri Staszewski
Design: Caleb Cain Marcus, Luminosity Lab

ISBN: 978-1-959684-06-0
Dimensions: 7.56 x 9.12 inches
Number of pages: 120 of varying sizes
Binding: Hardcover Swiss