Many Voices: Documentary Photography

Many Voices is a collection of photo essays giving voice to those communities so often and so undeniably passed by. Through the eye of the camera many may see. From the corners to the churches, from Sunday morning 'til Saturday night, from the streets of Harlem and San Francisco to the small towns of Alabama there are stories to be told, many voices to be heard. With exposure these many voices become louder.

The voices in these works are the subjects' own - people telling their stories of history and hope, of what they've witnessed, of the mighty long way they've come and the mighty long way we still must travel. It is their first hand experience and wisdom we have the privilege of sharing. They have raised their voices with great dignity. They have been waiting for their voices to be heard.

Photographers are story tellers. There are the stories that must be told in pictures. There are the stories that must live on like oral histories.

Documentary photography informs, inspires and compels change. It allows us to participate. Only light can drive out darkness. These subjects' words offer the hues of light.

The essays that comprise this work may be considered in the spirit of T.S. Eliot's words: "There are some things...before which we dare not keep silent."