What started as creating a set of portraits of family members in South Carolina quickly changed after a chain of ongoing events hit close to home. While visiting my family over the summer, I woke up one morning to find out that a racially charged mass shooting had taken place at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. In the weeks following, at least 8 black churches throughout the south were burned and an unending stream of videos showed police brutality against unarmed and non-threatening Black men, women, and children. After the events of this summer, I shifted directions and decided to create a series of portraits that captured the reactions to a few of racist macro aggressions and micro aggressions that we face. In These Clasped Hands represents some aspects of the multifaceted Black life, generational experiences, and community.
