We the Spirits - Hardcover

by Jason Gardner (Photographer)

Photographer Jason Gardner travelled across 15 countries to document traditional Carnival in its myriad of manifestations. Seeking out villages and towns where festivals are at their most folkloric or least visited by outsiders, Gardner collaborated with ethnographers and local experts to engage with and understand each festival. A selection of his vast archive of photographs made over a period of 15 years will be published in We the Spirits. Collectively, his images dispel stereotypes of Carnival and illustrate the complex diversity of local customs united by universal themes.

Author Biography

Jason Gardner is an American photographer, based in Paris and New York. His first monograph A Flower in the Mouth, focusing on Carnival in Pernambuco, Brazil was published in 2013 (Visual Anthropology Press, USA). Gardner's 'We the Spirits' was selected as a Top 50 portfolio by Photolucida's Critical Mass in 2022 and has been exhibited in Paris, New York, New Orleans, Toronto, Geneva, Malmesbury (UK), São Paulo, Belgrade, and San Francisco. Gardner's work has been published in GEO Magazine France, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Le Parisien, NPR.org, and New York Magazine.