Dr. Teresa Jackson

Website: afiafineart.com
Email: drjackson@mbhi.net
Instagram: @afia.fineart.photography

Artist’s Statement

The widespread presence of cellphone video has made visible the ongoing violence against Black people in the United States, sharpening the persistent devaluation of Black life. Witnessing the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and countless others compelled me to confront not only racism but the deeper question of why it persists. As a psychologist, I am driven to understand how such brutality continues even amid undeniable visual evidence. This inquiry led me to the historical construction of Black people as less than human—a narrative reinforced by media and social structures, yet starkly at odds with the humanity, care, and complexity abundant within Black communities. Where dominant narratives offer images of threat and hypervisibility, my photographs hold tenderness, playfulness, and quiet reflection: a father kissing his child, brothers sharing a close moment, a child playing in a fountain, unbothered by how he might be perceived. I shoot in black and white because it is timeless, removing these images from any single moment so that Black joy and rest read not as trend, but as enduring truth.

This is the foundation of "to Bear Witness," a project centered on Black men and boys, documenting them as they live—fully, freely, and with depth. I often work at eye level and in close proximity, so viewers meet my subjects as equals rather than observing from a distance. A man's direct gaze and relaxed posture invites quiet trust rather than spectacle; a boy lost in blowing bubbles offers unguarded, private joy. Each photograph asks viewers not to look at my subjects, but to sit with them—an act of witnessing that honors lived experience and expands how we see and value Black life.