Gillian Laub's Family Almost Split Apart During the Trump Years

<p><a href="http://www.gillianlaub.com/work" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gillian Laub</a> has published books of stunning photographs about <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gillian-Laub-Testimony-Ariella-Azoulay/dp/1597110124" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the Israeli-Palestinian conflict</a>, and about <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gillian-Laub-Southern-Rites/dp/8862084137/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ZSGHV5I9CUSW&amp;keywords=southern+rites&amp;qid=1644028473&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=southern+rites%2Cstripbooks%2C58&amp;sr=1-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">racism in the deep South</a>. She also produced a <a href="https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/southern-rites" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">documentary </a>about the killing of a young black man by an older white man in rural Georgia.</p><br><p>For Laub's latest project, however, she got very personal. “<a href="http://www.gillianlaub.com/family/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Family Matters</a>” is a story -- told through photos and words -- of how Laub's family nearly broke apart during the Trump presidency. But it's also a raw self-portrait.</p><br><p>“Those years brought out the worst in everyone and I'm part of that,” Laub said.</p><br><p>This is a book about something that many families have gone through over the past seven years. David Brooks put it pretty well in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/opinion/evangelicalism-division-renewal.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a recent column</a>, but I'm going to tweak his language a little bit here. 'Think of your family: your parents and siblings and their spouses and children. Now imagine if many of those people suddenly took a political or public position you found utterly vile. Now imagine learning that those family members think that your position is utterly vile. You would suddenly realize that the people you thought you knew best and cared about most had actually been total strangers all along. You would feel disoriented, distu