My assignment this past September was to create photographs for a WQED documentary titled, “Childhood Lost.” The film, which premiered tonight in Pittsburgh, is about the Adultification of Black Girls. It also highlights in horrifying detail where Pittsburgh stands in relation to other cities in the country with regard to it’s treatment of Black Women and girls. Pittsburgh is in the bottom 5% with regard to being live-able and fair for Black Women. It is a chilling statistic and one that really upset me when I first read about the University of Pittsburgh study this past spring. This documentary lays out some of the stories behind the statistics, and some ideas for eradicating this intolerable situation.
In photographing the girls, I was invited into their worlds to take pictures that explored their beauty and their wonder. We set up our studio right outside of Mr. Roger’s old playground at WQED.. The girls came to the set, took off their masks, and shared with me what makes each one of them so extraordinary. My job was to accept the gifts each one gave me and share them with you. The gifts they give all of us are themselves. When I look at these portraits, I think my part of this project could be titled,
I take great pride in being trusted to contribute to this project with @gavinbenjamin and @demeatriastyle and Minette Seate. They are all incredible talents and great contributors to our community. I could not be more proud of being included in our collective call to action.
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