Praise for Portraits of Resilience

“In MIT professor Daniel Jackson’s recent book, Portraits of Resilience, being resilient means being vulnerable. It a gives a glimpse into how students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — one of the most competitive and elite universities in the world — cope, overcome, and find meaning in their lives.” — The Boston Globe

“Portraits of Resilience is a profoundly beautiful book. I am deeply moved by the stories and the frankness and fearlessness with which they are told. The photographs add an exquisite emphasis to each individual’s story, and it is clear that this work comes straight from the heart.” — L. Rafael Reif, President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“The stories are powerful… [the] photographs are otherworldly…” — Jim Braude, Radio Boston, WGBH

“In this rare and beautiful volume, Daniel Jackson creates luminous portraits that marry his evocative photographs with the powerful and soulful voices of his subjects, who are courageous and open-hearted in telling the stories of their long and arduous journeys through depression, recovery, and personal transformation. The portraits—at once revelatory and restrained, public testimony and intimate reflection—allow us to see and feel the vulnerability and strength, the trauma and the triumph in the storytellers’ life narratives. In Portraits of Resilience we are witness to the power of the human spirit.” —Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education, Harvard University; author of The Art and Science of Portraiture and Respect: An Exploration

“Daniel Jackson’s powerful photographs combined with the rich stories accompanying them give us an intimate insight into a subject often filled with misconceptions and misunderstandings. The warmth and trust revealed in his portraits are a testament to Jackson’s respect for and sensitivity to his subjects.” —Connie Imboden, artist; author of Reflections: 25 Years of Photography, Beauty of Darkness, and Out of Darkness

“Most photographs are histories: they record something that happened in the moment and likely can never be repeated. But Daniel Jackson’s fine portraits and architectural studies do more. Together, they tell a story we can begin to understand. This is a moving book, in pictures and words, that recalls some of the fine ‘photography with text’ books that preceded it—Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, You Have Seen Their Faces, An American Exodus, and others.” —Henry Horenstein, Professor, Department of Photography, Rhode Island School of Design

“Daniel Jackson has embarked on an exploration of a timely issue, filled with compelling portraits and stories.” —Keith Carter, Fine Art Photographer; Professor Emeritus, Lamar University; author of A Certain Alchemy

Funded in part by grants from the MIT Council for the Arts and the Innovation Fund of the MindHandHeart Initiative.