"Attributes of Love"

It is my belief that home should be a nurturing, loving, safe space of care, respect and recognition. Inspired by the writings of the late bell hooks, the series “Attributes of Love” documents the lives of Black Americans and examines how many of us have come to employ the bell hooks defined "ingredients of love" including care, affection, recognition, respect, trust, commitment and honest and open communication as pathways to fully embrace our individual and collective humanity and to build homes and a culture rooted in a love ethic.

During my time at ICP I chose to focus my attention on making environmental portrait work about the lives of Black gay men in New York City. For Black Americans in general and this community specifically, “homeplace is the ultimate site of resistance and transformation.”

It is my intention to continue to make this work and to be ever more inclusive in the selection of sitters for the work. I will widen my scope both geographically and socially to Black and brown LGBTQI+ communities across the diaspora and eventually to non-Queer people within the diaspora as well.