This article explores the works of the late anthropologist Frank Cancian, specifically considering Another Place(1974), Orange County Housecleaners (2006), and Lacedonia – An Italian Town, 1957 (2017). Re-reading his works together reveals Another Place as a point of departure that concretized Cancian’s vision of documentary photography as a vocation. In particular, the article explores the implications of an exchange with none other than John Collier Jr. that followed the publication of Another Place. This moment reveals Cancian’s orientation towards visual ethnography as toolkit to mobilize a version of cultural relativism and demonstrates Cancian’s resistance to any rigid notions of scientific visual anthropology. The article therefore argues that, in essentially separating the products of his photographic practice (e.g., photobooks) from his “professional” anthropology, Cancian sought new modes of expression through photography. In so doing, he thus confronted an enduring problem for visual scholars – how to engage the world analytically vs. aesthetically. Especially for this reason, bringing Cancian out of contemporary obscurity is useful for visually oriented scholars today.

O’Neill, Brian F. 2022. “Documentary Photography as Vocation: Reflecting on Frank Cancian’s Contribution to Visual Studies.” Visual Studies. DOI 10.1080/1472586X.2021.2008815

• A copy of the article was acquired by Museo Antropologico Visivo Irpino (MAVI) in Lacedonia, Italy in April 2022.

• The image above was retrieved from Artstor’s Frank Cancian Archive. The image caption reads as follows: “Fiesta of San Lorenzo, horse races, Another Place” - 1971. This image was taken at the site of Saint Lawrence church in Zinacantán, Chiapas, Mexico.