This fall Aperture magazine presents an issue exploring the idea of cosmologiesthe origins histories and local universes that artists create for themselves.amp10amp10In an exclusive interview Greg Tate speaks to Deana Lawson about how her monumental staged portraits trace cosmologies of the African diaspora. What Im doing integrates mythology religion empirical data dreams says Lawson whose work is the subject of major solo exhibitions this year at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York and Institute of Contemporary Art Boston.amp10amp10In an indepth profile of Judith Joy Ross and her iconic portraiture Rebecca Bengal shows how a constellation of strangers is brought together through Rossamp8217s precise empathic gaze. amp8220Ross is guided by a rapt intense wholehearted belief in the individualamp8221 Bengal writes.amp10amp10A portfolio of Michael Schmidtamp8217s acutely observed work from the 1970s and amp821780s reveals the realms within realms of a once divided Berlin while Feng Liamp8217s surprising blackandwhite snapshots zigzag between absurdist dramas in various Chinese cities. Ashley James distills the surreal visions of Awol Erizkuamp8217s still lifes and tableaux Casey Gerald contributes a sweeping ode to Baldwin Leeamp8217s stirring 1980s portraits of Black Southern subjects and Pico Iyer meditates on Tom Sandbergamp8217s grayscales marked by both absence and reverence.amp10amp10Throughout amp8220Cosmologiesamp8221 artists cast their attention on the great mysteries of both personal and shared lineages tracking their locations in space time and history and reminding us of the elegant enigmas that can be unraveled close to home.