My curiosity to believe beyond borders reduced the tension I have as life pushed my family across the globe for a new home. As an individual born in Ghana, raised in Italy, yet stateless in America, I reflect on all three landscapes as they are culturally different from one another, as well as who I am today, as my identity is formed by an amalgam of all three countries. As I looked outward through the eyes of my mom, my lens on the world became more graceful as a young teen. The challenges of others put my personal, familial, and judicial hardships in perspective, helping me think and see differently.
When making tableaux portraits of family and friends, the gestures become a language of solidarity, a vehicle of conspiring with fellow immigrants and allies who understand the realities of navigating lives shaped by alienation, assimilation, and the uncertainty of living under recurring federal permission to remain. These photographs draw upon the visual languages of our shared and individual histories, reflecting the ongoing negotiation of my identity as an African, Black, hypervisible, and invisible man in America.
Throughout my everyday travels, far and near, I am reminded that movement is never neutral. Systems of power quietly shape who belongs, who waits, and who is asked to continually prove their worth. Although my path has been built through persistence, sacrifice, and the support of my community, I often question how much of it has been determination and how much has been permission. At times, my life feels like a film unfolding in real time, leaving me to wonder who is directing it: the child I once was, the person I am today, or the future self I continue to imagine.
