“I made these photographs in North and South Carolina in 2017, in a month marked by a total eclipse of the sun. I was particularly drawn to the ways in which the drama of that celestial coincidence intersected with the moments of life that directly preceded and followed it that year. Although the idea for the book was initially inspired by the eclipse, the work ultimately became more of a meditation on the American South, on the state of the nation at this moment, and on the things that separate us and bring us together. I was fascinated by the idea that the entire nation was staring at the sun,...