The Bottom: The Interstate and Highways Defense Act & Segregation in Baton Rouge

My contribution is an artist presentation as a part of this panel, on my work titled The Bottom. These photographs are an investigation of the neighborhood Old South Baton Rouge in Louisiana. This is the community that I live in and it has a complex history of systemic and environmental segregation. I am making photographs of the landscape, residents and historical documents to look at how the past has shaped this area. This area was originally the Magnolia Mound Plantation, and was divided into shotgun lots creating a low-income neighborhood. I photograph city plans and maps juxtaposed with torn down houses and my neighbors to create a portrait of this community. I recognize that histories are often told
from the person with the most power and I understand my privilege in making these photographs. I work closely with my neighbors photographing repeatedly and collaboratively to carefully negotiate my responsibility in how I am representing them. I hope the deteriorating infrastructure and highway can speak to the history of segregation while I strive for the portraits to show the happiness, anger, love and sadness of the residents. I carefully consider the use of color and black and white to portray a blur between past and present, with the neighborhood youth caught in the in-between. There is little visual history that exists for this area despite its historic importance during the civil rights era. I photograph to make a record that can hopefully draw a connection between past decisions and current consequences.