Belle is a project exploring Southern culture, shame, and religion among young women and nonbinary folks in my native state of Alabama. Over the course of six weeks, I visited fifteen different towns meeting with people, many of whom invited me to sleep in their homes for the night. Each participant in the project wrote a letter to the anonymous person I would meet on my next stop, sharing pieces of their individual experiences living in the present-day Bible Belt and creating a network of encouragement among strangers. Beyond this, the trip marks my own attempt to come to terms with the place I still call home. The project was undertaken in the summer of 2019 and was made possible by the Royal Photographic Society postgraduate bursary award.
photographs here
full book + interviews here
