Close to the Bayou

Close to the Bayou is a journey of artmaking in the face of death and explores what is passed on through that process. The work touches on themes related to male intimacy, sickness in isolation, mentorship, and cancer specifically.

Close to the Bayou follows the internal journey of Thomas Mann, an uncle figure and artistic mentor to the book’s author, Dimitri Staszewski, as Mann goes through treatment for prostate cancer during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. During that unprecedented period of isolation, Mann, who is a jewelry and sculpture artist, continued producing work at a frenetic pace.

The book pairs images taken during Mann’s three-month treatment period with writing that spans the entirety of Staszewski’s lifelong relationship with Mann as their individual experiences flow together.

The work is meant to encourage audiences to question what it means to be close to the bayou. While that metaphorical space is open to interpretation, Close to the Bayou aims to guide viewers toward examining their own closeness with life and death, love, light, and the process of creating regardless of how much time we have left.

Exactly a year after beginning the project, Staszewski was diagnosed with cancer himself which required going through surgery and chemotherapy to cure his own cancer. During that process, Staszewski was forced to relearn many of the lessons he thought he had learned through supporting Mann. While the images in Close to the Bayou remain centered on Mann's treatment period, Staszewski's personal experience with cancer informed the work on a deep level as he worked to finalize Close to the Bayou the photobook.

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This project was recently featured on the Truly Texan podcast.

The crowdfunding campaign for Close to the Bayou will end in late February for a late spring/early summer publishing date.