It’s Election Day. Across the country political battles are coming to their conclusions and the impact of the results will, as they always do, shape the future of our country and our lives. If you have not voted yet, we ask you, we beg you, we demand you to go now and do what amounts to far more than your civic duty.

As a reader of The Racket you might know that we’ve been very supportive of our good friend Anna Rotty’s incredible photography book Poll Work (National Monuments Press). Selby Sohn, an artist and contributor to The Racket, attended Rotty’s art opening for the book and wrote what we think is a fitting review for this massively important day.

One more time: stop fucking around, get out there and vote.

When the Behind the Scenes Becomes the Scene
by Selby Sohn

A Review of Poll Work by Anna Rotty
at Book & Job Gallery

Poll Work
Anna Rotty
National Monuments Press

Reviewed by
Selby Sohn

The last time I was at a polling station, I was worried. I changed my name during the pandemic, and was not sure if my vote would count. This was November 3, 2020, a very important election. I approached a poll worker, concerned. They immediately checked to make sure that my name was on their print out and also in their computer system. In the end, several people kindly got involved. I left feeling soothed, elated, and continued to post an “I voted” selfie, which I later deleted. I am ashamed to say that I have completely forgotten what these poll workers looked like and I never learned their names.

During the pandemic, I realized that I missed socializing with not only my close friends and family members, but also with people I interact with temporarily, and, for the most part, never speak to—like in an exercise class, at a grocery store, or walking outside (meeting the owner of a particularly cute dog). I realized I had a social life that I never counted as my social life, a web of anonymous human interactions that I relied on to feel sane.

When I first moved to the Bay Area, I felt completely invisible. I lacked a sense of strong community and felt particularly sensitive in every social interaction. On watching people, I noticed that they sometimes completely disregarded others that they didn’t know, yet, exalted the humans they considered important—sometimes, to the point of feeling vulnerable themselves. Since then, I vowed to treat every person like an important person, because anyone could have a swath of incredible knowledge that I haven’t yet culled. Everyone is also invisible.

What I find particularly moving about Anna Rotty’s photographs is that they notice people who deserve to be less invisible. Her subjects are shot straight on, facing the viewer in the center of the frame. Her photographs endow them with respect. It would be impossible to miss or ignore these humans, or to walk by them as some would. What is usually bypassed is now framed. Her photographs are also not ubiquitous; the poll workers retain their own unique styles, existing in different spaces and inhabiting different postures. In some sense what Anna has taken is a pluralized group of people—one usually homogenized and lumped together—and has elaborated their uniqueness. She has humanized them.

Poll workers have faced new challenges since the pandemic. Their jobs have become risky not only because of COVID, but also from acts of violence from election deniers. They could only embody courage. In the end, I am so happy to be able to face these figures once again, to let my gaze linger longer than it normally would.

Poll Work is an exhibition and book launch at Book & Job Gallery (838 Geary St.), from October 14th – November 19th. Poll Work honors the people and places that make elections possible, with photographs by Anna Rotty, a risograph publication and portfolio made in collaboration with Zach Clark and National Monument Press, and audio stories made by Angela Johnston. The exhibition is curated by Austin Leong and Kyle Smith.

Poll Work is out now from National Monuments Press.

Selby Sohn is an artist living in the Bay Area.