Mfon: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora is an exclusive and commemorative book launching a bi-annual journal committed to establishing and representing a collective voice of women photographers of African descent. Created and co-edited by photographers Laylah Amatullah Barrayn and Adama Delphine Fawundu, the inaugural issue of Mfon will feature 100 women photographers across the Diaspora including Marilyn Nance, Nina Robinson, Regine Romain, Nona Faustine, Kameelah Rasheed, Zoraida Lopez-Diago, Shani Jamila, Janice Bond, Lola Flash and myself – just to name a few of the 100 artists included in this book.

This iconic issue to be published this fall will feature an introduction by Dr. Deborah Willis, MacArthur Fellow and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. It will include conversations and essays written by women scholars, journalists and artists.

Subsequent issues of Mfon will feature photographic essays of four or five photographers with in depth interviews and essays that will contextualize the work. This campaign is a PRE-SALE for the seminal, inaugural edition of Mfon: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora.

This is a book that NEEDS to be published, over and over again. This is a book that won’t get made without the help of people like you who want to see and support photography by women of color. This IS photography history or shall I say, herstory! Contribute to the Mfon: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora gofundme campaign and help reach (and perhaps surpass) the $13K goal!

To get the backstory on this special endeavor, read The NYTimes Lens blog article published earlier this month. Book cover photo is a self-portrait from the series “The Amazon’s New Clothes,” © Mmekutmfon ‘Mfon’ Essien, 1999.