Here is Immokalee. Here is a hopeful child, an athlete, a trailer park. Here is a brand new home. Here is a Haitian reverend, a skilled machinist, a woman who saw a hurricane destroy her home — and then watched her neighbors help her rebuild it. Here is a town with great poverty and even greater spirit. Here is a place that is changing, and will continue to change. Here, at 26°N and 81°W, is a spot on the map that is like no other. Here is Immokalee.

In 26° 81°, photographer Joshua Dudley Greer offers 40 full-color images that guide us through Immokalee’s quintessential American story of hardship, perseverance, optimism, and success.

About The Book

About the Contributors

Joshua Dudley Greer is an award-winning photographer who received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia. He has exhibited in venues throughout the United States and is currently visiting assistant professor of photography at East Tennessee State University. His work can be found at his personal website: www.jdudleygreer.com.

Christopher M. Maier is a Washington, DC-based writer. He is a founder of the literary magazine Ninth Letter and his fiction has appeared in Sou’wester and Image, among others. His journalism has earned awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and CASE, and he has authored or co-authored more than 20 editions of higher-education trade books. He is currently on the creative team at Poccuo.

Joseph Zednik, publisher of 26° 81°, is a Chicago native who lives in Bonita Springs, Florida, about 35 miles east of Immokalee. Currently the chairman of Prescient Ridge Management, his career has spanned from computer technologies to financial derivatives. In Southwest Florida and Chicago, he has dedicated himself to providing educational opportunities to young people of all backgrounds and life circumstances. He sits on the board of The Immokalee Foundation and makes frequent visits to the Immokalee community.

About Immokalee

Here’s a snapshot: Immokalee (in 2010, at least) is more than 70% Hispanic. Immokalee sees half its population disappear each summer as migrant farmworking picks up in northern states. Immokalee is a town where the Haitian dialect of French and a south Mexican brand of Spanish are as likely to be heard as the patters of American English. “Immokalee,” a rough translation of a Native American term meaning “my home,” was adopted as the town’s name in the late 1800s. Today, the Immokalee Seminole Reservation and casino occupy a few blocks of the southern end of town. Immokalee is home to one high school, one middle school, five elementary schools, and a K–6 charter school. Teenagers often affectionately call Immokalee “I-town.”

Testimonials

“Your book provides us with a wonderful and lasting picture of Immokalee. It captures the variety, resourcefulness, and warmth of the town and its people, and makes it easy to see why we have all become so attached to them.”

— John Costigan, Board Chair, The Immokalee Foundation

Contact

info@26-81.com

26º 81º
c/o Poccuo
1724 20th St NW, Suite 1
Washington, DC 20009

Individual prints from 26° 81° are available for purchase from Joshua Dudley Greer. Please contact him at jdudleygreer@gmail.com or (443) 722-9413.

Where to Purchase

Buy 26° 81° From Amazon

von Liebig Art Center
585 Park Street
Naples, FL 34102
(239) 262-6517

Eastern Collier County Chamber of Commerce
1300 N 15th Street
Immokalee, FL 34142
(239) 657-3237