A Statement on Authorship, Representation & Ethics

I recognize Whiteness as a cultural construct of oppressive and dangerously supremacist systems. I also recognize my position and privilege as a white-skinned man in unjust systems that are designed to benefit Whiteness and be resistant to change by design. I commit to working in ways—creating photography, film, and art—and showing up in community in general to deconstruct and dismantle those systems.

As a concerned photographer working much of my career as an international photojournalist—and as a white-skinned American cis-gender male, descendent of European colonizers, living on stolen land, and working out of the northern hemisphere for Western culture’s institutions—I have built my entire career traveling to remote (for me) and exotic (for me) places, working in the world’s most marginalized (by western standards) and under-represented (in western media) communities. I commit to correcting this.

I seek appropriate authorship in the stories I pursue. I am not attempting to speak for communities that are not my own—they have voices and often use them. I commit to understanding how my own story intersects with the bigger story and to being transparent about my position, perspective, and process. I do not pursue projects when my story is not in some way part of the story to tell.

My work is to vitalize the truth. I understand that truthful representation is not the same as factual objectivity and that regardless of my intentions, I am limited by my biases and assumptions and what I can witness and understand, and that truth will be incomplete.

My inherited circumstances amplify my power to do good or to do harm with my art. I will use my ancestral privilege to create space to work collaboratively with those I film and photograph, celebrating diversity and supporting their agency and sovereignty in their stories.