Submission

I’m doing a portrait series of folks who live near me in Harlem, and in the now dangerous neighborhoods where I grew up on the South Side of Chicago. I’m more cautious than afraid. Art’s worth it. People who I’ve never met near my old home still sense familiarity. I make friends fast, because I still play by the unspoken rules of those same streets. These strangers and I somehow trust each other. I don’t see myself as some great solo artist-- We collaborate on these portraits. Guns and senseless violence kill so many, but only so many. Invisibility can be weaponized— denying recognition of certain people and their needs. Marginalization, disinvestment, racism, and the rapacious greed of the powerful threaten us all. The reasons why the people in my portraits should be seen go beyond documenting their existence or vanity. These portraits are a form of protest—and love. The spirit captured in these photos is resiliency, defiance, vulnerability, and faith. And yet, haunting all my images of triumph and resistance, there's always the implied struggle against defeat and annihilation. I shot all ten in Harlem and the South Side of Chicago. Each image is both indelibly rooted in place and undeniably about transcendence. I think everyone can relate to two worlds within. In each of my 10 photos, you can see the ghost of the American Dream.