Aperture issue 256 features the work of more than thirty photographers--including Berenice Abbott, Bruce Davidson, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Balarama Heller, Arthur Jafa, Kikuji Kawada, Sally Mann, Louis Mendes, Boris Mikhailov, and cover artist Lieko Shiga--alongside new poetry by renowned authors Ben Okri, Tracy K. Smith, and Simone White; an essay by economic anthropologist Jason Hickel; and a short story by artist Jeff Whetstone. "Lawson's approach to reading photographs is wholly distinct and fresh. She has organized a surprising and enigmatic collection of images and texts for this special issue. It is very much an artist's project in magazine form," says Michael Famighetti, Aperture's editor in chief.

"I believe we all need to observe things we don't understand," Lawson says, regarding her approach to the issue. "Arrhythmic Mythic Ra" invites readers to confront the unknowability of every photograph, offering a meditation on the mysterious relationship between the visible and invisible world.

The issue coincides with Poetic Record: Photography in a Transformed World, an exhibition and two-day symposium at Princeton University, where Lawson is the Dorothy Krauklis '78 Professor of Visual Arts. The exhibition is curated by Lawson and Famighetti, and the symposium is organized by Lawson in collaboration with Princeton colleagues Jeff Whetstone and James Welling at the Hurley Gallery, Lewis Center for the Arts. The show, on view from October 1 to December 5, 2024, includes work by many photographers featured in "Arrhythmic Mythic Ra." The symposium takes place from October 10 to 11.