MAPSO PROM (2018-2020) is a series of portraits taken in Maplewood, NJ, an affluent NYC suburb. The setting of Prom 2018 and Prom 2019 is the Springfield Avenue Gazebo in the Seth Boyden/Hilton neighborhood. Black students, many from immigrant families, show up in style for the Promenade. Friends, family, and members of the community, gather to watch the graduates from Columbia High School. Jean Pierre Prom was taken at the Jean Pierre family residence. The Jean-Pierre are Haitian immigrants.
QUEER PROM is the latest installment of the MAPSO PROM series. At a time when LGBTQ+ teens find themselves the target of hateful homophobia, and the subject of anti-trans legislation, I wanted to take the portraits of these valiant youths and their friends during the Maplewood Queer Prom.
Inspired by photographer Mary Ellen Mark masterwork PROM, MAPSO PROM is a celebration of the beauty and talents of the under-represented, a reflection on diversity and integration in MAPSO (Maplewood and South Orange, NJ.)
Prom 2018 was exhibited at the Maplewood Library during the summer of 2019.
