Big news! I’m making a book!

For the past six years, I’ve been working on my project L’dor Vador. This project first published in The Washington Post in 2023, was acquired into the Library of Congress in 2023, and was exhibited at Photoville in 2024. Now, it will be published as a book!

The book will be self-published and I have made a Kickstarter to fund its publishing. Pre-orders will only be available until March 24, 2026. So get the book while you can!

L'dor Vador explores the coming-of-age experience of Jewish girls through the quintessentially Jewish-American ritual of camp. Through embedding at Camp Nah-Jee-Wah (a Jewish sleep-away camp in rural Pennsylvania) over several years, the project documents one bunk of girls as they establish identity and community in a whimsical world of s’mores, hair braiding, and swimming. It is a meditation on the moonstruck world of girlhood: its rites of passage, emotional undercurrents, and wild self-expression. The book explores the rare space where girls can be wholly and authentically themselves. In doing so, it offers a positive perspective on Jewish identify—focusing on joy and connection over the more typical narratives of persecution and loss. Though L’dor Vador focuses on a Jewish camp, the themes it depicts of friendship, exploration and identity are universal. Every person deserves a safe space to learn, grow and have fun.

I already have a dummy of the book designed and approved by the printer (Mas Matbaa in Turkey). The paper weight and finish, color weight and finish, and binding are all selected and approved. This Kickstarter will fund the printing costs.

The book will be approximately 8.5x11 inches in portrait format, around 144 pages, with a soft cover and lay flat binding. If I exceed my goal of $20,000 I will increase the print run to make more books available. I expect to print by May 2026 and begin shipping in July of 2026.

The book includes digital and film photos (made between 2021 and 2023) and collaged materials (made by the campers in 2024). It is designed by Giovana Schluter Nunes.