FEATURE
WE LOVE YOU
PROJECT
D. C. based photographer Bryon Summers returned to Union Market to host a free portrait session for black men and boys.
Photographer Bryon Summers’‘ WE LOVE YOU PROJECT’ is a passion project fuelled by both art and activism.“ It’ s a creative way to protest,” Summers says.
Summers believes in the power of protest through the digital march. Picking up his camera for the‘ WE LOVE YOU PROJECT’ and hitting the streets of Washington, D. C.; Brooklyn, N. Y.; Miami and Philadelphia with the goal of photographing 1,000 black men and boys- to take back the image of black men in America.
“ As a photographer, images are my loudest voice,” explains Summers.“ They can be powerful reinforcements and examples of who we are and aspire to be. The‘ WE LOVE YOU PROJECT’ shares portraits of the black men and boys in our communities, showing each other and the world that we are not worthless. We are someone’ s son, brother, cousin, uncle, husband, or father. We are LOVED.”
He uses Instagram to get that done.“ I wanted to flood the internet with positive images of black men to counteract the negative imagery that we’ ve seen for years,” Summers continues.“ I’ m asking everyone I shoot to take back their image. In this digital age we have options to advance our movement. We can digitally march in solidarity while actively changing a false perspective. It’ s been awesome seeing the support from both men and women coming out to participate, and in a way, digitally march alongside us.”
The‘ WE LOVE YOU PROJECT’ recently became a physical art installation on the wall of Union Market in north-east D. C.“ We hosted a photo shoot for the’ WE LOVE YOU PROJECT’, but when we saw the call to action impact of such a simple idea I knew it had to be shared as a mural on the side of Union Market,” said Jennifer Maguire Isham, Director of Strategy at Union Market / Edens.“ Art is crucial to the growth and vitality of a city. It allows for dialogue.”
The photo mural captures the faces of 34 men and boys of all ages. Some of the men have worked at Union Market or in the Union Market District, others were friends or
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