“This book’s title, ROUGH BEAUTY, conveys Anderson’s conviction that the hard scrabble lives of most of the residents of Vidor, Texas, are worthy of our attention, but it also conveys that he does not seek to beautify their lives by removing the crude edges.” --Anne Wilkes Tucker, from the book’s introduction

ROUGH BEAUTY is a powerful photographic documentation of the people and places of Vidor, Texas, a poor and isolated town in rural Southeast Texas, most known for its long history as a Ku Klux Klan town. ROUGH BEAUTY will be published in October by Dewi Lewis Publishing, the prestigious art and photo publisher based in the United Kingdom. A Dutch-language edition will be released by Mets & Schilt Publishers in The Netherlands.

ROUGH BEAUTY (120 pages, 76 duotone photographs) has an introduction by Anne Wilkes Tucker, Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and an extensive interview Tucker conducted with Anderson.

Begun in the fall of 2003 and completed in early 2006 (after fifty trips), Anderson’s ROUGH BEAUTY explore the character and burden -- and the resilience and off-kilter beauty -- of a community branded by its history. Vidor is reviled for its history of Klan activities, but behind this stereotype lies a town with remarkable resiliency, struggling to create a new identity out of a difficult past. His images show a hidden beauty that lies dormant even in the roughest places.

ROUGH BEAUTY was the winner of the Santa Fe Center for Photography 2005 Project Competition. The exhibition tour begins in the fall of 2006 and continues throughout 2007.