The State of the Union: A Photonovella of American Politics

By Jane Marchant

Originally published as a three-part series from May to June 2018, the Journal has republished Marchant’s photonovella with a new prologue prior to the 2024 election.

Jane Marchant is an interdisciplinary storyteller working with writing, photography, plants, and collage. Her work has appeared in ZYZZYVA, Guernica, Apogee, Kweli Journal, Catapult, Evergreen Review, and elsewhere. She is a 2024 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow, recipient of an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and Lucas Artists Fellow at Montalvo Arts Center. She has received support from the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Foundation, Tin House’s First Book Residency, Headlands Center for the Arts, Ucross Foundation, Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, and Art Omi, among others. She lives in the Bay Area, and has also lived in New York, Munich, Amsterdam, and southern Turkey, and traveled extensively—including swimming in the Nile, driving across the Australian Outback, and exploring Lebanon’s Jeita Grotto.