Today, the families who gave D.C. its soul are the ones being pushed to its margins. In Shaw, a historically Black neighborhood, one multigenerational family stands as a mirror to this transformation. Brad, Reece, their four children, ages 1-10, and their extended family have long settled in the area. While building a life for their family, the couple navigates the tension between memory and development, community and displacement, alongside personal conflicts with domestic violence, alcohol, and drugs.

Their story is not isolated—it echoes the experiences of countless others who remain, resisting erasure and gentrification. This project, created in collaboration with the family, bears witness to their daily lives as they adapt, endure, and preserve what still belongs to them.

"We’re an average family trying to live through this whole situation, and we still try to be fly," the mother of this family, Reece said. "We do. We still try to make sure we have our Uggs, our Jordans, and… and our North Faces on, but that shit hard... That shit hard."