Gray Hairs at Eighteen is a confrontation of the expectations I’ve been held to as a Black teenager in today's world. Throughout life I have been expected and told to maintain unrealistic standards, such as being the most “manly'' and “strong” since I am the oldest child, or acting “hard” and “ghetto” because I am Black. These expectations have led me to think that I need to change the way I appear or how I carry myself. Every photograph represents an insecurity or flaw on my body that I believed had to change in order to be accepted and viewed as an equal. Gray Hairs at Eighteen, figuratively and literally speaks to the result, other people’s words have had on me.
Gray Hairs at Eighteen, 2021, InkJet Print
