1804

$65.00

1804 continues Rich-Joseph Facun’s exploration of life in the Appalachian foothills of Southeast Ohio, this time turning his lens toward the local university and its complex, symbiotic relationship with the surrounding community.

The work visually examines how heritage, socioeconomic forces, and youth culture are shaped—and at times, strained—by the university’s presence. In this rural region, the institution forms a liberal enclave within a largely conservative landscape. Yet, it also operates as a modern-day company town: a single, dominating employer and cultural force.

Having weathered the economic turmoil of the pandemic, the university now confronts renewed financial distress. Federal funding cuts enacted during the Trump administration have triggered staff layoffs, the cancellation of student visas, and anxiety over a looming decline in high school graduates—the lifeblood of future enrollment.

Are we witnessing a shift from boom to bust?

1804 continues Rich-Joseph Facun’s exploration of life in the Appalachian foothills of Southeast Ohio, this time turning his lens toward the local university and its complex, symbiotic relationship with the surrounding community.

The work visually examines how heritage, socioeconomic forces, and youth culture are shaped—and at times, strained—by the university’s presence. In this rural region, the institution forms a liberal enclave within a largely conservative landscape. Yet, it also operates as a modern-day company town: a single, dominating employer and cultural force.

Having weathered the economic turmoil of the pandemic, the university now confronts renewed financial distress. Federal funding cuts enacted during the Trump administration have triggered staff layoffs, the cancellation of student visas, and anxiety over a looming decline in high school graduates—the lifeblood of future enrollment.

Are we witnessing a shift from boom to bust?

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Rich-Joseph Facun is an Otomí and Pinoy storyteller, photographer, and bookmaker presently based in the Appalachian Foothills of southeast Ohio. His work aims to offer an authentic look into ways in which individual identity is influenced by the economic, geographic, and community norms of a given landscape. The exploration of place and cultural identity present themselves as a common denominator in both his life and his photographic endeavors.

DETAILS

9 x 11 inch | 23 x 28.2 cm, Hardcover

Debossed, Foil Stamp, Smyth Sewn, Case Bound

116 pages with 62 color plates

Essay by Rich-Joseph Facun

Design Direction: Caleb Cain Marcus, Luminosity Lab

ISBN 979-8-218-61402-7

Edition of 500

Published February 2026

By Liars Corner

PRESS

“Facun’s photographs drift between portraiture and landscape, between observation and implication.”