Articles

Lisa McCord began documenting life on her grandparents’ cotton farm, Rotan Switch in Northeastern Arkansas, in 1979. Her photographs capture everyday life, traditions, and challenges faced by her family and the local African American rural community. Using both color and black & white photography, McCord offers a unique insider-outsider perspective, depicting intimate moments within homes, churches, and community spaces. Her work also reflects personal struggles and celebrations, illustrating the deep connections within this community shaped by respect, love, and resilience. Read Article

Rotan Switch is the first monograph by Lisa McCord, documenting life on her grandparents’ cotton farm in the Arkansas Delta community of Rotan. The title refers to a central landmark—the railroad switch used for loading cotton bales onto trains. Although the switch has been inactive for years, it symbolizes the complex ties between industry, agriculture, racism, and injustice. The photographic project spans 45 years, from 1978 to 2021, and follows five generations within the community. Read Article

Lisa McCord is a fine art and documentary photographer known for her evocative works inspired by her upbringing in the Arkansas Delta. This exclusive interview covers her journey into photography, starting with creative experiments in high school and studies at New York University. She shares insights into her prominent project Rotan Switch, which documents life on her grandparents' cotton farm and has been published as a book. The interview also discusses McCord's choice of black and white film, her favorite photographs, community reactions, and her future projects focused on personal storytelling. Read Article

Published in 2024 by Kehrer Verlag, Lisa McCord's monograph "Rotan Switch" is a 204-page cloth hardcover featuring 25 color and 55 tritone photographs. The work documents the Rotan farm in Arkansas, tracing McCord's family history and the Black farmworkers who lived and worked there from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The book combines personal memoir with social history, revealing the complex power dynamics within a rural Southern community. Accompanied by essays and designed by Caleb Cain Marcus, the photobook presents candid and tender portraits while acknowledging the photographer's own privilege and family’s role in local social and economic structures. Read Article

Rotan Switch is the first monograph by Lisa McCord, documenting life on her grandparents’ cotton farm in the Arkansas Delta community of Rotan over 44 years. The project captures the complex intersections of industry, agriculture, race, and privilege within a predominantly Black community. Using analog photographs, family snapshots, Polaroids, and ephemera, McCord explores themes of identity, home, and social inequality as both participant and observer. The book thoughtfully addresses her complicated role as a white descendant of a landowner in this rural southern community. Read Article

Lisa McCord’s photobook "Rotan Switch" offers an immersive experience combining content, design, and emotion. The unique layout mimics a conversation, inviting readers into the life on her grandparents’ cotton farm in Rotan, Arkansas. Its unconventional structure uses large text blocks and interspersed images to tell a deeply personal story reflecting family life, labor, and racial dynamics in the Arkansas Delta. McCord’s photographs include both her own and found images, capturing moments of joy, struggle, and community in vivid detail. The book’s innovative design and compelling narrative create a dynamic dialogue between the author and reader. Read Article

Rotan Switch is an autobiographical photo book by Lisa McCord that documents life on her grandparents’ cotton farm in Rotan, Arkansas. Spanning 45 years from 1978 to 2021, it explores the rural South's socioeconomic and racial complexities through intimate images of five generations of a community. McCord, a white photographer and landowner's granddaughter, reflects on her own privilege and the intertwined histories of industry, agriculture, racism, and injustice in this unique place. The narrative unfolds like a family album or diary, inviting readers to engage deeply with its themes of connection, separation, and home. Read Article

“Rotan Switch” by Lisa McCord is a deeply personal photographic memoir that explores her hometown in Arkansas over more than forty years. The book blends social, geographic, and autobiographical narratives, documenting the complexities of race, class, and community through intimate black-and-white images. Unlike typical photo books, it is meant to be read like literature, presenting a compelling story that captures the nuances of life in a rural Southern town. The book combines family photography with broader social commentary, enriched by multiple voices reflecting on the shared history and context. Read Article