Kris Graves - The Testament Project, Volume 01, 2016 (signed)

The Testament Project is an exploration and re-conception of the contemporary black experience in America.

The first part of this series deals with black men, who are portrayed in the extreme- either as very rich or very poor, they are demonized, infantilized, ridiculed, idolized or hyper-sexualized; and within the art canon there is a noticeable scarcity of black male representation. I give control of the color and lighting to my subjects, in order to create a space that is participatory and empowered. By including my subjects in the creation of the scene in the use of color, I seek to create photographs that portray individuality in addition to their blackness. In the more traditionally lit studio portraits, the subjects are named for their professions to emphasize the depth of their identities, beyond race.

The project has recently been written up in Huffington Post, GUP Magazine and Slate's Behold. I have also done interviews for Strange Fire and Humble Arts Foundation. 

Kris Graves - The Testament Project, Volume 01
9 x 11" softcover, signed
64 pages, 39 plates
Limited first edition of 250
Co-published with Blue Sky Gallery