Marina Berio: Ten Photography Lessons for a Dead President

Born to a Japanese American mother, artist Marina Berio weaves years of research and personal reflection into Ten Photography Lessons for a Dead President, an editioned artbook exploring her family’s memories of World War II incarceration. At its center is a letter addressed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1942 signed Executive Order 9066, leading to the forced removal and incarceration of more than 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast.

The book includes fifteen postcard-sized photographs from Berio’s family archive, materials from her research on the amateur photographers who secretly built an underground darkroom in camp, U.S. government propaganda images, and other historical ephemera. Through this layered constellation of text and imagery, Berio reflects on personal and collective memory, the shaping of history, and the role of photography in bearing witness.

Self-published

Publication Date: 2024

Size: 4.1 x 9.5 inches (10.2 x 23.5 cm), folded