I am extremely excited to announce pre-orders for my new book, “FAITH,” to be published in the spring of 2019 by the fine folks at FotoEvidence.
This is a long term project I started several years ago that I have been keeping under tight wraps because finding a responsible publisher, who would treat this project with the respect and care it deserves, has been a journey, to say the least.
It all started in 2013 when I witnessed a minor accident where a pedestrian was hit by a taxi. I took photos of the scene and gave the victim Bilal Ali the images for his lawyer. A few months later, Bilal called me and asked if I would shoot a private party he was throwing at a restaurant in Dupont Circle. Since he offered to pay me decent money, I said sure! This photo shoot turned out to be an introduction to an empowered community of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender African Americans.
I freely admit that, when I started this, I knew very little about the issues gay African Americans face in today’s society. I incorrectly assumed that the momentum towards the acceptance of same-sex marriage in numerous states and the culmination of this recognition by the US Supreme Court in 2015 would make all equal under the rainbow flag. But that is not the case. All things still aren’t equal today.
In response to suffering discrimination in their churches and in the gay community, the people in FAITH have created their own environments to express their lives. They gather at private parties organized in homes, restaurants or underground venues friendly to their lifestyle. They have also established their own church, The Community Church, in Washington, D.C. Here, under the leadership of the Rev. Aaron Wade, they are fully accepted and worship freely.
FAITH will take you through the parties, the homes and the church services. You will meet all kinds of wonderful and amazing people who welcomed me into their community and allowed me extended looks into their personal lives. Nothing is held back, from the erotic to the spiritual. It all embodies the relentless determination of an empowered community I had the privilege to get to know.
For the photographers who have made it this far, I am honored to be working with Régina Monfort as my editor. You may not know her name, but you have probably seen several of the books she’s worked on. In fact, she edited the widely acclaimed book “The Eyes of the City” by Richard Sandler - one of my favorite street photography books in recent years. In addition, I am also extremely grateful to Maggie Steber, who helped me work on this project since its inception. Not only did she review much of this work while it was being created, she also gave me great advice and encouraged me to pursue this story through thick and thin.
So with that I strongly encourage you to pre-order FAITH. And you can check out some page spreads over at http://www.fotoevidence.com/book/37/hard-copy.
