Issue Magazine Teams Up With Magnum

New York-based Issue magazine, a quarterly focusing on visual arts, architecture, literature and liberal arts, launches a new geography and culture section in its latest issue.

The August 15 issue will feature a 20-page essay on Mennonites photographed by Magnum shooter Larry Towell. Issue's architecture editor Joshua Long hopes it's the beginning of a working relationship with the photo cooperative.

The magazine is starting with a story that's already been completed ? Towell's Mennonites' essay published by Phaidon ? but Long plans to send a photographer out on assignment with "camera and pen" to cover the cultures, peoples and geography of America. "The next step is to use the existing roster and work with [Magnum] to send them out," says Long. "I can't think of any other organization that has the caliber that they do."

Long picked Towell because his images looked timeless. "It looks like it should be 100 years ago, but it's something that's happening now. [Towell] offers insight into a culture in a way that's not condescending."

Long, who's worked with Mitch Epstein and Bill Owens, says he looks at portfolios, but rarely uses unknowns. Other photographers who have appeared in Issue are Ann Weathersby, Nan Goldin and Marina Karella. The section will be a regular one and for the next feature, Long plans to do something about the Midwest.