Rashod Taylor

Photographer
   
Little Black Boy
Projects (3)
Clients: National Geographic , ProPublica, The Atlantic Essence Magazine
School: Murray State University
Public Project
Little Black Boy
Copyright Rashod Taylor 2024
Updated May 2022
Location Springfield, MO
Topics Spotlight
Summary
These images tell you more than my family story; they're a window onto the Black American experience. 
My work addresses themes of race, culture, family, and Legacy and these images are a kind of family album, filled with friends and family, birthdays, vacations, and everyday life. At the same time, these images tell you more than my family story; they’re a window onto the Black American experience. As I document my son I am interested in examining his childhood and the world he navigates. At the same time these images show my own unspoken anxiety and fragility as it pertains to the wellbeing of my son and fatherhood. At times I worry if he will be ok as he goes to school or as he plays outside with friends as children do. These feelings are enhanced due to the realities of growing up black in America. He can't live a carefree childhood as he deserves; there is a weight that comes with his blackness, a weight that he is not ready to bear. It's my job to bear this weight as I am accustomed to the sorrows and responsibility it brings, the weight of injustice, prejudices, and racism that has been interwoven in our society and institutional systems for hundreds of years. I help him through this journey of childhood as I hope one day this weight will be lifted.
This series is ongoing.
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Also by Rashod Taylor —

Project

NatGeo: Old-fashioned images Evoke the complicated history of Black military service

Rashod Taylor / Griffin, GA
Project

ProPublica: Conservationists See Rare Nature Sanctuaries. Black Farmers See a Legacy Bought Out From Under Them.

Rashod Taylor / Pembroke Township, IL
Little Black Boy by Rashod Taylor
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