Sons: Seeing the Modern African American Male
Now on view through Spring 2017
Sons are more than a photographic study of the modern African American male. It is also an examination of how African American men are perceived. The exhibition asks visitors to compare their perceptions to reality, journeying through four parts of the gallery.
Section one is a brief introduction, followed by “Perceptions,” in which visitors are presented with images of African American men. Visitors are encouraged to form perceptions based on the images of isolated faces that are captioned with names only. The “Realities and Reconciliation” section presents a second set of images with bios and videos of the subjects discussing themselves. This allows comparison of initial perceptions with reality.
The photographic subjects will be drawn mostly from the local area. From this microcosm of African American males, visitors can learn of some of the realities and challenges facing African American men. The subjects should be familiar to the visitors, because they are the black American men whose day-to-day existence mirrors that of most Americans and members of their community. Taliaferro produced images that seek to communicate something about the humanity of each person in the exhibition.