the end of september marks an entire year that Profile Books and The Bookshop have published, distri
the end of september marks an entire year that Profile Books and The Bookshop have published, distributed, and profited from my photos without my licensing, consent, or compensation in the book “the diary of a bookseller.”in addition to three of my photos in the book, one was distributed to Daily Mail and another the was the COVER of The Bookseller magazine, (who also won’t pay me despite their editor initially agreeing to).i spent the last year exhausting my resources seeking “justice,” but we live in a society that prioritizes the wealthy over the poor, and allows the continued exploitation of marginalized communities, including independent artists.in carrying this weight with me for the past year, i have depleted my financial and mental resources pursuing this. i’m well aware that there are countless artists like me— women of color like me— who will never be able to make it this far.being an artist of color is challenging enough. now i live with the constant fear and questioning of whether my work and art deserve to be compensated. this trauma is a direct result of being emotionally manipulated, gaslit, and called “unreasonable” when asking for payment for the very work i do to make my living.last year HeraldScotland profiled the bookshop and said, “his story is one about constant anxiety over money, and the future. Then […] the argument he can never win, with Amazon. If you want a baddie in this story, then Amazon is it.”the irony is nauseating.shame on the bookshop and profile books for invoking sympathy and support for independent businesses while they themselves have no remorse over exploiting work from marginalized artists. you may remain complacent and willfully ignorant to keep publishing a wealthy white man’s world, but i will not remain silent anymore. -- source link
#profile books