I spent time from 2006 to 2010 working on a project to document the people of South Apopka in Florida, a historical Negro community remaining from the days of racial segregation. I deemed the community of historical cultural significance although few residents understood. My approach was an extended series of environmental portraits with brief explanatory notes. It was a rewarding experience for me as a white middle upper class putting myself into a small lower class almost totally Negro community. But I met great people who became long term friends.
The tangible result was a series of prints that have been exhibited in Winter Park, FL, The Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the Univ. of Mississippi, a gallery in Havana, Cuba, and others. But my favorite was when I hung all the framed prints on the backstop of the softball field in South Apopka on the 4th of July when they were having a community picnic.
This series has continued to evolve into others including my religion series and my Cuban work which is a direct extension just geographically different.
The late Mr. Hessie McAllip who spent his life as an agricultural worker
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The late Ms. Johnson whose house once faced the RR tracks, now a recreational bike trail. The years were unkind to her mental facilities but she sat outside and waved at the bicyclists who pedaled by.
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The late Mr. Arthur Lewis. Mr. Lewis rented a room in a relocated WWII officers house on a street with 18 identical houses. We visited frequently until he passed.
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Sharika in her family's wig shop. Unfortunately, it went out of business after 3 months.
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The late Mr. Curtis Robinson. You have seen him before here. This is how I found him sitting on his porch one Sunday after church.
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