Don't Cry For Me When I'm Gone

A southern photographic work centering Black life, grief, memory, & healing within the artist's family archives. Reece creates work by challenging how we use photography & the archives to tell stories through celebration, community care, and liberation.

A photographic installation surrounding Black Southern archives, grief, memory, and community. When we embrace the archives, it can provoke an array of emotions. I treat this work as love and grief interchangeably. For me, this comes with the feelings of heaviness and joy. I am in constant motion of grief due to the images being connected to me. While the work showcases a plethora of image-making it is archival and text-heavy. The Black archives–my family archives have created a sense of comfort and belonging for me versus the usual photography. Each and every work I make–its purpose, and function is to impact me first. And then the rest should follow. Each time the onlookers engage with my work you witness my emotions. And if you are not able to sense nor feel what I am feeling, which, I don’t expect you to because it is a personal experience but can be shared by others. What I dream is for you to become aware of your own stories. Be curious about yourself. Uncover, understand, and remember the archives. Not for its tactlessness and memory function. But as a way to heal, to dream, and to live.