ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPH:

“The picture is of me and my late uncle. His name is Willie Marshall Martin. He has always been one of my favorite uncles because he always had the light, even in the midst of darkness. A lot of times he struggled with addiction, yet he would give his last to anyone. I was graduating with my doctorate degree, and the one person that made me think that this was a big deal was him. His excitement for me was one of the first few moments that I understood that anything that I accomplished in this world was because of my elders, and in a lot of ways through their trauma and protection to ensure that we didn't go through that same thing in our lives—out of darkness, comes light.”