Infinity Goes Up On Trial
by Alan Chin, interviews with W. Ralph Eubanks and Michelle Goldberg

$40.00 – $125.00Select options

“A meditation on answering the question, ‘How do you photograph a microbe?’…[the] big picture and the roots at which those three threads intersect — racism, inequality, a uniquely American indifference to the human condition of actual Americans — were obscured in the news, whose headlines treated each idea as a discrete event. But Alan Chin saw it differently, immediately, and he set about chasing a full picture before most of his fellow journalists. The result is Infinity Goes Up on Trial, something of an odd little book — and a priceless visual record of an incredible American moment.” — Jina Moore, Guernica

“Here, in unforgiving color and resolution, are the sins of the country. Here, also, are powerful displays of resilience, and the ongoing stories of those who have been fighting and continue to fight for change.” — Emily Neil, Blind

“The heft and paper choice of the book is reminiscent of a novel…One of my favorite things about the book is that the cover is from artwork that Chin’s daughter, Hannah, made. It’s a tacit acknowledgment that there is a future, there is hope, maybe it’s just up to future generations. It’s also an acknowledgment, or punctuation mark, that reminds us that all of the turmoil swirling around directly affects our personal lives, loved ones included.” — Kenneth Dickerman, The Washington Post

EVEN BEFORE the start of the global Covid-19 pandemic, it was clear that 2020 would be tumultuous; possibly the last year of Donald Trump’s presidency. Once the pandemic began, the stakes became higher and higher as the death toll rose.

In May, a Black man, George Floyd, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, setting off nationwide protests and clashes between demonstrators and police forces in many cities. Not since 1968 had unrest been so widespread across the nation. I set out to document as best I could the multiple crises of an extraordinary year, showing some of the kinetic moments of these conflicts, tragedies, and displays of purpose.

I’ve included images of daily life, as Americans struggled to cope with creative solutions and ordinary routines. I also photographed historic sites, because future generations may regard these events the way we do the past, often in contentious ways: as when signs commemorating the civil rights movement were vandalized by gunfire. Finally, I wanted to share some personal images of my family — because the experience of 2020 was near universal.

With the exception of a historical image, I made all the photographs from January 20, 2020 to January 21, 2021. The book also includes interviews with W. Ralph Eubanks, a writer and essayist whose work focuses on race, identity, and the culture and literature of the American South, and Michelle Goldberg, Pulitzer-winning columnist for The New York Times and author of several books on Christian nationalism, reproductive issues, and Indra Devi, the woman who helped bring yoga to the West.

It is hard to imagine any corner of the United States — or the world — that these events didn’t touch, directly or indirectly. This is my zine pretending to be a book, or book pretending to be a zine, of one year in my life and the life of the nation. — Alan Chin

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Infinity Goes Up On Trial is also available BUNDLED WITH PRINT (125 USD/Euro) that includes a choice of one of the two prints below, signed and numbered in edition of 50, 8″ x 10″:

Softcover Book
6.69″ x 8.25″ (170mm x 210mm), 336 pages sewn
Printed in Lithuania
ISBN # 978-1-941703-14-4
Photographs and text by Alan Chin
Interviews with W. Ralph Eubanks & Michelle Goldberg