The release of Take a Picture, It Will Last Longer, a captivating new book by acclaimed visual artist Brooke DiDonato. Originally from Ohio and now based in Austin, Texas, DiDonato has garnered international acclaim for her surreal photography that distorts everyday life through hypnotic visual anomalies. This latest publication is her most comprehensive collection yet, featuring both her well-known series and previously unpublished works.
DiDonato’s art invites viewers to step into a world where the boundaries of reality are fluid. Her photography explores extreme landscapes and domestic settings that feel like reflections of the subconscious. In her surreal compositions, the familiar becomes otherworldly: legs dangle from windows, houses blossom with flowers from unexpected places, and ordinary objects twist into new forms. Each piece challenges the viewer to see beyond the surface, blending the mundane with the fantastical in ways that are both unsettling and beautiful.
The book includes DiDonato’s renowned series A House is Not a Home and introduces new works that continue to push the limits of visual storytelling. The collection opens with an introduction by writer Eleanor Sutherland, offering thoughtful insights into DiDonato’s creative process. A conversation between Emmy award-winning filmmaker and writer Eve Van Dyke and DiDonato’s father, Bob DiDonato, adds a personal dimension, shedding light on the artist’s journey and the influences that have shaped her vision.
DiDonato’s titles—such as “Growing Upward Has Its Downside,” “What to Expect When You’re Expecting Nothing,” and “Went to Therapy but I’m Still in My Patterns”—resonate with contemporary themes of anxiety, love, and loss. Drawing inspiration from her upbringing in Ohio, her photographs transform familiar spaces into sites of psychological tension and curiosity. Bodies contort in uncanny ways, mundane settings take on new significance, and each image blurs the line between reality and imagination.
In Take a Picture, It Will Last Longer, DiDonato offers a window into her unique world, inviting us to linger a little longer. Her work defies the conventions of traditional photography, crafting a universe where objects defy gravity and perspectives are ever-shifting. As Eleanor Sutherland from Aesthetica Magazine aptly observes, DiDonato’s work exists on the edge of the familiar and the fantastical, making Take a Picture, It Will Last Longer a must-see for those intrigued by the extraordinary.
Reserve a book: https://vol.co/collections/brooke-didonato
