Native Son unites photographs made on travels back to my birthplace–Decatur, Georgia–and the greater American South. Adopted from birth in 1985 and raised in the Northeast, throughout my youth I maintained a deep curiosity and desire to experience this place in-person. Inspired by the writing of my biological mother, I made my first trip to Decatur in October 2009, keen on establishing a relationship with this landscape I both imagined and felt connection.

As an outsider, my process was reliant on chance, intuition, historical research, and the grace of strangers. Conversational exchanges–some brief, some carrying forward to present day–provided opportunities to inquire, listen, observe, and in turn, absorb a wealth of diverse perspectives, histories, and facets of lived experience. In search of shared moments, I was working to assemble a personal portrait authentic to my direct encounters with this American region’s profound beauty, socioeconomic realities, mythologies, and palpable legacies of racism and violence. 

Taken together, the photographs collected and published as Native Son (VUU, 2014 & 2015), seek to offer a nuanced and lyrical interpretation of an American South while underscoring a profound respect, gratitude, and empathy for the individuals depicted. Native Son is the first chapter of an ongoing, long-term body of work.