A conceptual image/project of food, product, still life, fashion or an idea that demonstrates tight control of esthetics, lighting and purpose.
This series was shot on a 4x5 film camera. For me, this project was heavily influenced by many things, the first being how black males' manhood was taken and how we still see the repercussions of it in the present day. In today’s American society black men are heavily looked down as we are “known” for not being able to provide and fill those manly roles for our families. However though our manhood is constantly being stripped from us, many don’t know this but it was the objective of the government to weaken people of color families, and to do that they targeted the man of the family. But this has not just happened recently but since slavery, owners of slaves would make sure to strip the manhood of the men in front of their families to make them feel as if he is unreliable and it’s sad to say but those ideals are still affecting our society present day. The second influence/message I wanted was the inhumane treatment that people of color faced and how they were done to break up family dynamics. As it is scientifically proven trauma can be passed from generation to generation, with that being said we have so much built-up trauma that present day to day in black boys and men questioning humanity and manhood.