Printed Matter | Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah: Andy Sweet’s Summer Camp 1977

Bunk beds, rope swings, lap swims, kiss and tells. Whether you’ve personally experienced it or not, the notion of summer camp is burned into the American psyche like a 96 degree day. Enter Andy Sweet’s nostalgic new imprint, Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah: Andy Sweet’s Summer Camp 1977 (Letter16 Press). Out May 26th, the photo book, edited by Brett Sokol with an introduction by Naomi Fry, is the perfect antidote to Covid-19’s consummate summer camp cancelations far and wide.

Sweet, a Miami-based street photographer well known for his documentary work who was very sadly murdered in 1982, captured material that does not divert from the tangible—it’s like we’ve seen these pictures before. The 120 page collection chronicles the summer of 1977 at Camp Mountain Lake in North Carolina, and the beautiful and sometimes cringe-worthy results entangle the personal and pragmatic in a nostalgic orchestration of how we were. Sweet’s swift, decisive eye lures the viewer into a coming of age context that outlines and predicts the layers of lucid love, awkward folly and youthful simplicity in an earnest assemblage. Can’t we just go back?

Pre-order your copy here.