HUNTER/GATHERER
US/them
WARNING: US/them contains graphic images of racist memorabilia that some viewers might find disturbing.
My long-term ongoing project, Hunter/Gatherer, encompasses a broad range of themes and subject matter, but most recently I have focused on making photographs of Black memorabilia and other objects intended as representations of Black people – figurines, dolls, illustrations, tchotchkes, household products, and more. Most Black memorabilia was produced decades ago, by and for white people, achingly recalling Jim Crow, but given their ongoing active trading, I do not view these objects simply as relics from the distant past. While this series, titled US/them, documents the current marketing of racist objects produced many years ago, it is simultaneously a commentary on the ongoing persistence of degrading racial stereotypes and racism in America. These images confront the realities of our shared history while simultaneously serving as reminders of dreadful aspects of the country’s psyche that continue unabated.
My intent is not to offend, but to inform and raise awareness. As Henry Louis Gates Jr. suggested in The Root: “…we need to study [racist memorabilia] to deflect the harm that they continue to inflict upon African Americans, at the deepest level of the American unconscious.”
Beyond revealing the proclivities of the buyers and sellers, this work is a window into our collective soul, exposing painful truths about our society, ourselves, and the American persona writ large.
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