Rashod Taylor

Rashod Taylor
Deep Sleep, 2020
Paper Size: 22x27 inches
Edition of 10
Inkjet print produced by Light Work and signed by the artist.

My work addresses themes of race, culture, family, and Legacy and these images are a kind of family album, filled with friends and family, birthdays, vacations, and everyday life. At the same time, these images tell you more than my family story; they’re a window onto the Black American experience. As I document my son I am interested in examining his childhood and the world he navigates. At the same time these images show my own unspoken anxiety and fragility as it pertains to the wellbeing of my son and fatherhood. At times I worry if he will be ok as he goes to school or as he plays outside with friends as children do. These feelings are enhanced due to the realities of growing up black in America. He can't live a carefree childhood as he deserves; there is a weight that comes with his blackness, a weight that he is not ready to bear. It's my job to bear this weight as I am accustomed to the sorrows and responsibility it brings, the weight of injustice, prejudices, and racism that has been interwoven in our society and institutional systems for hundreds of years. I help him through this journey of childhood as I hope one day this weight will be lifted.

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Rashod Taylor (b.1985) attended Murray State University and earned a bachelor’s degree in art with a specialization in Fine Art Photography in 2007. Taylor favors traditional and lost format practice of photography silver prints and wet plate collodion process among them.

Taylor’s work uses portraiture to address themes of family, race, culture and legacy. The artist’s photographs are a window into the Black American experience. His photographs are part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture, The Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. The Museum of Fine Arts Houston and The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Editorial clients include National Geographic, The New York Times, Essence Magazine, ProPublica, among others. His work has also been featured in CNN, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Forbes, Hulu, Buzzfeed News, Black & White Magazine, Feature Shoot and Lenscratch.

Rashod Taylor lives in Bloomington, IL.

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