Native Son
(2009 – 2014) 

Native Son brings together photographs made on travels back to my birthplace, Decatur, Georgia, and the greater Atlanta region of the American South. Adopted at birth in 1985 and raised in the Northeast, throughout my youth, I held a deep curiosity and desire to experience this region in-person. Inspired by the words of my biological mother, I made my first road-trip south to Decatur in October 2009, keen on establishing a direct relationship to this place I both imagined and felt biographically connected. 

As an outsider, my process was contingent on embracing chance and intuition, seeking out and creating moments for human connection. Conversational exchanges–some brief, some carrying forward in years–provided opportunities to listen, inquire, observe, and in turn, absorb diverse perspectives, histories, and facets of lived experience. In search of shared moments, I was seeking knowledge–to inform the generation of a more comprehensive portrait representative of this American region’s vibrant multicultural experience, racist past and present, independent and collective histories, and further, to highlight my own questions, observations, and shortcomings. 

Taken together, the photographs published in Native Son (VUU, 2014-2015), seek to reflect a nuanced, lyrical interpretation of place, while acknowledging a profound respect, gratitude, and empathy for the individuals depicted. Native Son is intended to be the first chapter of an ongoing, long-term body of work.