The Last Bookstores: America's Resurgent Independents

The Last Bookstores documents America’s remaining independent bookstores and the people behind their survival and potential comeback. Bryan David Griffith pairs photographs—meticulously crafted with the dying art of large-format film—with quotes distilled from hours of interview material with booksellers. The first-hand accounts provoke questions about how the growth of big-box chain retailers and Amazon affect the distribution of literature and impact local economies. The exhibition debuted in Massachussetts at the Griffin Museum of Photography in 2015, then traveled to the Phoenix Public Library Central Gallery and the Coconino Center for the Arts in Arizona. The project has been featured in Slate and PDN, and reviewed in Harvard Magazine and The Boston Globe.