What role does the family play in the construction of identity? How has the social and political structure of the family changed? How have artists reacted to and/or documented societal reality and the changing role of the family? Family explores these questions and others in an effort to understand how humanity's oldest social structure has evolved and adapted to life in the 21st century. Expanding beyond the hyped notion of "family values" and the supposed breakdown of the family, this volume includes related work by 38 artists -- from Sanford Biggers, Richard Billingham, Louise Bourgeois, and Sophie Calle, to Nicole Eisenman, Margi Geerlinks, Nan Goldin, and Adrian Piper -- and poems by 10 contemporary poets including Robert Hass, Louise Gluck and Cal Bedieut. In place of the traditional essays found in art catalogues, each artist submitted a brief essay or quote on the concept of family and its relevance to their lives and work.