The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey was founded in 1930 as a center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. The IAS is made up of four schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Social Science, and each year 30 core faculty members are joined by some 200 visiting members to partake in symposiums, dialogue, and uninterrupted focus on their work. Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Freeman Dyson, Danielle Allen, Erwin Panofsky, Clifford Geertz, and many other eminent scholars are among permanent faculty members at the Institute.
For the 2009-2010 academic year a committee of Institute scholars selected me for a yearlong photography fellowship to produce a body of work representing life at the Institute. The project culminated in a two-part exhibition held at the Institute, the accessioning of 80 silver-gelatin prints, and a book published by Princeton University Press containing my photographs alongside the writings of Institute scholars.
