2022 Image Equity Fellow: C.T. Robert

C.T. Robert is one of 20 Fellows who were awarded the inaugural Image Equity Fellowship. Learn more here.

C.T. Robert’s images of the West side of Chicago reflect the resilience and grace of a community dealing with crisis. Having spent time in Chicago after creative directing musical artist Saba’s album Few Good Things, Robert wanted to return to the community in order to create photographs that counteracted the negative stereotypes of the city that he saw pervading popular media. With the resulting project, Cycles, Robert hopes to celebrate the quiet beauty of the neighborhood and its residents.

“At one time, during the great migration, Chicago was seen as a place of hope for the Black community,” says Robert. “Now there’s a vacant home crisis, among other things. So, it’s like, okay, how do we go from there to there? What are the stories within that?” Robert spent time integrating himself into the local community, getting to know the people he was photographing on a deeper level before even making their portrait.

In his collaborative approach, his subjects’ own reflections often accompany their image. “I wanted to slow down and be super intentional. To make a project that doesn’t lean on stereotypes of Black death and Black trauma, but instead, flip those ideas, and tell a story about the cycles of life that exist in a place.”

Editorial statement by Aperture.

Explore the other 2022 Image Equity Fellows’ final projects and learn more about the Fellowship here.