Briana is the sister of Olympic Gold Medal Boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields and often that’s how she’s defined. Claressa was featured in the documentary "T-Rex" directed by Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper, produced by Sue Jaye Johnson. In that film, Briana says that Claressa is her better half, which would make her the worse half, or at very least the other half. Briana is cut from the same cloth as Claressa - she's tough, charismatic, resilient. Briana is Claressa without the boxing. In a town like Flint, Michigan, you need something to get you out. And Briana doesn’t have that. So she’s stuck in Flint. In another town, all of her strengths might help her rise and get ahead. But she’s not in another town.
The photos are featured in the book REX published by Contrasto. The film was supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and published on CNN's Great Big Story.
"T-Rex" is currently available on Vimeo and iTunes.
