jon henry

As a young Black woman, I was drawn to the narrative Jon Henry created in his photography project, “Stranger Fruit.”

Growing up, I was always taught to be wary of cops—to hold both hands on the wheel if I am pulled over; to speak clearly and, when I am looking for my driver’s license and registration, to tell the officer so they know I am not searching for a weapon. However, in the wake of the recent police-related deaths of Black men, women, and children—including George Floyd, Elijah McClain, Breonna Taylor, Brayla Stone, Tatiana Stone, and others—it is clear to me that no actions, no show of kindness, can protect us from the reality that people still refuse to say “Black Lives Matter” and that overfunded police departments reinforce our current system of oppression.

“Stranger Fruit” confronts the reality Black mothers and siblings must face when a member of their family dies at the hand of the police. How does it feel to hold your son in your arms? With this in mind, I discussed the series with Jon Henry himself to learn more about his creative process and the intentions behind the project.

To start off, I’d love for you to introduce the series, “Stranger Fruit,” and discuss where that began.

Henry: So, I’m Jon Henry. I’m from Queens, New York. The project “Stranger Fruit” began in 2014 as a response to the murders of African American men due to police violence. Using the Pieta, Michelangelo’s sculpture of Mary mother of Christ holding the dead body of Christ, I used that as the vehicle to photograph African American men and their mothers across the country.

Why did you choose the Pieta to portray the mother/son dynamic?

Henry: It made the most sense for me. I was thinking about this intense suffering—you know, obviously, the passion and all the stuff from the bible; the heightened moment of suffering and this incredible amount of grief. But, then, translating that to the community, it was a very close parallel for me because, when these tragedies happen, all I think about are the mothers, and families in general, but in particular the mothers. So, that mother/son dynamic is what guided the project. That’s how I landed on the Pieta in the first place.

I know in a couple of your images you switch the format—it’s a mother alone in a room. Why did you choose to change it?

Henry: I thought the project would be too redundant if it was just the mother/ son images every single time. I wanted to give the viewer something to hold their attention. So there are these images of the mother in isolation— sometimes, you can sense that there is a second presence that’s there, that’s missing; sometimes, not so much. But, basically, it’s a tie back to the mothers that have lost. How do their day-to-day activities look after the event? What does it look like a week later? A month later? Six years later? How are you supposed to go on as normal after these terrible events have happened? So, [I used] the environment— the rooms, the open space—to help the viewer to get into the mindset of the mother.

How did you then select your subjects and your locations?

Henry: The subjects are just through the network—through friends of friends reaching out and saying “this person might be interested, reach out to this family.” Some people reach out independently via social

Written by Reegan Saunders Photos by Jon Henry

media, but most of it is through the network. California was a bit different because I went out there for the entire month of May last year and just was on the streets, looking for people and talking to folks, going to events, and trying to make connections.

So, you traveled a lot for this project. What are your takeaways from traveling and shooting?

Henry: It’s critical to travel for the project because I’m from New York, and I could shoot the project just in New York, but this is a nationwide, if not global, issue. It’s important to get on the road and shoot with as many backdrops as possible. So, I’ve been to Buffalo, NY, Rhode Island, Alabama, Texas, Little Rock, California, Chicago, Florida, and a few other places. So, all of that helps round out the project and put everything together. There are still a couple locations I’m looking to visit hopefully this year. All of the travel has been postponed due to the virus.

How much longer do you plan on continuing this project and where do you want to take it from here?

Henry: So, this whole year basically started with trying to make this the last year to shoot. I’ve been working on this project since 2014, so, I’m ready to wrap it all up. I really only have 3 or 4 more locations that I really want to go to. I was supposed to be in St. Louis in April, but that had to get postponed as everything came to a screeching halt. You know, Utah and Omaha and maybe one other location after that—either Nashville or Atlanta. And that’s pretty much it. And then we start working on the book, as this is destined to become a book.

That’s really cool! I noticed you use Kodak Portra 400 film, talk to me about why you chose that film. And do you edit afterward, or are these the raw images?

Henry: There’s always a little bit of editing as far as dust and scratches, and minor color and contrast corrections, but outside of that, there’s no crazy editing going on. Things aren’t being removed, things aren’t being cropped out. The simple reason for the film choice is because I’m photographing people, so I needed to be able to have a higher ISO for my film, and for 4x5, ISO 400 is the highest that they offer. So, it makes the shooting element of how deep an F-stop I can shoot at—it’s the only way.

Untitled #6, Parkchester, NY

And so, who are your inspirations, not only in photography but in life as you are working through this project?

Henry: As far as the project goes, there’s a laundry list of inspirations— of course the classical inspirations of Michaelangelo, Titian. But, there are also a lot of contemporary artists who have helped shape the project—Renee Cox being one, Dr. David Driskell being another, Andres Serrano, Kehinde Wiley... these are all artists who have helped greatly shape the project in its own way. And, of course, there are so many other artists who have had a hand in me looking at the way that they work and then using that in my practice.

So, my last question is what advice do you have for young Black creators trying to find a way to share their voices?

Henry: Your voice is incredibly important. And, whatever it is that you are interested in, follow through with it. Now is a time where people are paying attention. I don’t know if that’s the right thing to say, but 15 years ago, because social media wasn’t as big a thing, it was hard to really get these voices out. But now, especially with what’s going on in the past few months—really the past couple years, with people really pressing for representation and inclusion—those stories are really important, and now you can really get that work out there. So, it’s just important to be true to yourself and to photograph or document whatever you are interested in. It’s always going to have your own flair to it and it’s always going to be authentic coming directly from you.

Jon’s project has been shot and displayed across America, and you can find the images on his website (jonhenryphoto.com) and his Instagram (@ whoisdamaster).