Joseph Maidas new photographic monograph BORN FREE BORN EQUAL raises vital questions about democracy justice memory and representation in the United States today.ampamp160It was not until the death of his beloved Aunt Katherine Takeshita a nisei Japanese American from Hawaiampamp699i that Maida learned the details of the familyampamp8217s incarceration during World War II. This discovery prompted Maida to revisit Ansel Adamsampamp8217s 1943 Manzanar archive in 2017 in the wake of President Trumpampamp8217s Executive Order 13769. Through obscuring specific faces names ethnicities and dates in Adamsampamp8217s Manzanar photographs and documents which were once controversial and are now publicly accessible through the Library of Congress Maidaampamp8217s 2018 bookampamp160Born Free and Equal The Story of Loyal Americans draws parallels between Ansel Adamsampamp8217s empathetic images of citizens incarcerated based solely on ethnic origin and the resurgence of legislation targeting women religious minorities BIPOC and LGBTQIA individuals.ampamp160Born Free Born Equal contains a stunning reproduction of Maidaampamp8217s 2018 book as well as a record of Maidaampamp8217s 2020 projectampamp160Printed Media x Printed Justice ExhibitioninaBox in which Maida mailed political posters to influential art institutions including New Yorkampamp8217s Museum of Modern Art when the urgency of the imminent 2020 Presidential election and the limitations of the COVID19 pandemic made post the most effective way to get the the project in curatorsampamp8217 hands.