Black Men of the North Shore (BMNS) at its core, is about healing and love. These photos and stories are a celebration and documentation of the personal narrative, of self-definition and autonomy. This is a love story and the celebration of love. It is an offering of “I see you” and “I honor you”.
I am a Black woman, single mother, artist, and a host of other identities that make my entry point into this conversation not easily accomplished, nor casually considered. At the start of this project, I was in a tension filled space with the men in my life. My father, the father of my child, my lover, and largely, men on a whole. Over the years of this project, I mothered my child, changed jobs, and moved boroughs. In the words of Hypolita, “somehow in all of this I found my name”. It is this tension space that has fueled my sputters and starts - When and where I enter. Unexpectedly, these conversations captured and intrigued me, as did all who participated in this project. Through the eyes of these complex Black men, the borough, too, captured my heart.
