B. BLOOMINGTON, IL, 1985; LIVES IN SPRINGFIELD, MO
Alongside his daily work as a portrait photographer in Springfield, Missouri, Rashod Taylor is engaged in a project to document his son’s childhood and to consider the challenges of Black fatherhood in the United States today. In his series titled “Little Black Boy,” Taylor regularly photographs his son LJ, now six years old, aiming to capture the fragility of life and experience for young Black males. “As I document my son I am interested in examining his childhood and the world he navigates,” Taylor remarks. “At the same time these images show my own unspoken anxiety and fragility as it pertains to the well being of my son and fatherhood.”
Taylor deliberately casts his images of his young son engaged in everyday activities against the criminalized representation of Black youth so pervasive in the media. Some of Taylor’s large-format black-and-white photographs show LJ taking a bath, lounging in the backyard, and sleeping on the sofa with his father resting beside him. Taylor makes a point of showing intimacy between him and his son to celebrate Black fatherhood and to encourage empathy. “I really want to show Black American family life in a different light,” Taylor says, “because you don’t often get to see the loving, tender moments, the vulnerabilities that are really normal in everyday life.”
This installation is part of the exhibition Parallel Lives: Photography, Identity, and Belonging, curated by Maya Benton. Parallel Lives draws attention to complex notions of community and belonging, and in particular how our social and familial relationships have been reimagined as a result of the conditions of isolation and uncertainty imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Photo: Rashod Taylor, Bath Time, 2020