Michael Magers

Independent Mysteries (pub. November 2019) is the first monograph from documentary photographer Michael Magers. In it, Magers exposes the persistent tension between connection and disconnection -- a feeling of “intimate distance” -- he grappled with while traveling to places like Japan, Haiti, and Cuba for various assignments and personal projects. Drawing on nearly a decade of work, each image can be viewed as a film-still, with little context other than light brushes of human contact, fleeting intimacy, solitude and vulnerability. Every one of the grainy, black-and-white photographs in this book carries with it a secret to be discovered and explored.

Independent Mysteries features design by Bonnie Briant, editorial by Nadine Barth and Claire Cichy of Hatje Cantz, and contains original prose/poetry/artwork from a host of collaborators with whom Michael has worked over the past few years including:

—Acclaimed Cuban Musician Daymé Arocena —Photographer Larry Fink —Celebrated Japanese Tattoo Artist Horiren 1st —Award-Winning authors Matt Goulding and Mitch Moxley —Musician, Poet and Visual Artist Matthew Shultz (lead singer of Cage the Elephant)