The photographs in this exhibit trace a six-year journey that began in 2020, during the pandemic lockdown that ravaged the world as we knew it. Though many of us were at home, sheltered in place, the unhoused were still on the streets then and now.
Looking for support with nowhere to go, America has become a society that has denied a whole segment of its population the basic human right of food, shelter, clothing, and healthcare; surprisingly, we, the people, are okay with that. My need to document what is in Plain Sight: Canaries of the American Soul stems from living the life of a Black Man in America, where I have been criminalized and not seen fully as a human being. It is the same for the unhoused, who can be locked up for panhandling, booked for sleeping on the street, hidden from sight during high-profile events and cultural attractions, such as the Kentucky Derby, where the eyes of the world are focusing on the Ville, to be released once the tourists have gone home. The Safer Kentucky Act (House Bill 5), legislation passed by the Kentucky General Assembly in April 2024, makes it a crime to be mentally ill, to be addicted, to have dual-diagnosis, or to be unhoused, sleeping on the streets. Who in their right mind would choose to live in that type of situation? So what has America become from where we began and from the strides, we once made? What is the Lady Standing in the Harbor holding the Torch thinking about her America?
Many of the images in this show are of people in Portland, my neighborhood, where my roots go back generations. However, the scope of my work has expanded to Old Louisville, Downtown, Highlands, Russell, Bardstown Road, Lexington, Kentucky, Nashville, TN, and O’Fallon, Illinois. This situation exists from sea to shining sea. What began as a desire to document those whom society looks away from, those who cause the general public to feel fear, has developed into relationships of mutual respect. The unhoused group has the same aspirations as the general population; they just made a wrong turn in life. By the grace of God, it could be you are me!! The first step in this journey was to take my camera equipment away and rely solely on the less threatening iPhone camera. Since that beginning, I have been invited into the lives and lived spaces of Troy, Roy, Sarah, Stacey, Henry, Destiny, Bisget, and countless others. Several people have gone to the Portland Museum with me and participated in the museum’s oral history project. We know each other by name, we talk, share our lives, laugh, and when it rains really hard, when the wind rages, or the temperature plummets, I head out into the street, looking for the “Canaries of the American Soul” to do what I can. I pray that America heeds the Canary’s message!!!!
In Plain Sight “Canaries of the American Soul” was curated by Julia Youngblood, Harmonizing Arts. Exhibition giclée prints made by Hockensmith Photographic, Georgetown, Kentucky. The exhibition would not be possible without the support of the Moremen Gallery, Feed Louisville, Coalition for Homelessness and Diallo-Simon-Ponte, of the Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program.
