Evidence — Larry Sultan & Mike Mandel (Second printing, 2017)

Originally published in 1977, Evidence is a seminal photobook by Mike Mandel and Larry Sultan, composed entirely of found photographs sourced from the archives of over one hundred U.S. government agencies, research institutions, and corporations. The images were originally made as documents of scientific experiments, industrial procedures, police investigations, and technical research. Mandel and Sultan stripped them of their original captions and contexts, reordering them as autonomous visual statements, thereby transforming utilitarian imagery into enigmatic, often absurd or unsettling art.

This edition, published by D.A.P. / Distributed Art Publishers in 2017 (ISBN 9781942884149), is the second printing of the 2003 facsimile reissue. It preserves the design and sequence of the original 1977 book, with production overseen by Working Dog Press and design by Victor Mingovits. The photographs are drawn from the archives of institutions including the San Jose Police Department, Jet Propulsion Laboratories, General Atomic Company, and the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Evidence has since been recognized as a foundational work of conceptual photography, upending traditional notions of authorship, documentation, and narrative. Its influence spans photography, art history, and archival practice.

Technical Sheet:

Mike Mandel, Larry Sultan
D.A.P. / Distributed Art Publishers, New York, 2017 (second printing of 2003 facsimile edition, originally published 1977)
Softcover, 28 x 31.5 cm, unpaginated (approx. 100 pages)
Design: Victor Mingovits
Editor: Loni Waxman
Production: Working Dog Press
ISBN: 978-1-942884-14-9