Native Son brings together photographs made on travels back to my birthplace – Decatur, Georgia, and the greater Atlanta region of the 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 region in-person. Inspired by a letter from my biological mother, I made my first visit to Decatur in October 2009, keen on establishing a relationship with this place I both imagined and felt connection.

As an outsider, my process relied on chance and intuition, seeking out and creating moments for human connection. Conversational exchanges–some brief, some carrying forward over 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 and narrative representative of this American region’s vibrant multicultural experience, independent and collective histories, legacies of racism and violence, and to highlight my own questions, observations, and shortcomings. 

Taken together, the photographs published as Native Son (VUU, 2014 & 2015), seek to reflect a nuanced and lyrical interpretation of place, underscoring 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.