These are not models I photograph. These are people with stories to tell with experiences equally beautiful and tragic, and shared with my own. These are black men who have struggled with identity, battled depression, and buckled under the pressures society has burdened them with. The reality that resides in my photographs is unavoidable. The showcase of vulnerability and liberation, that does not subject us to objectification and criticism, is rare. These images reflect my life while disrobing the structural and cultural inequalities that have formed barriers that dictate the black male psychological perception of the world, each other, and ourselves.
“Black Boy” Self-Portrait, 2013