Stance

"I wear my scarves and the cowries in my ear to connect to my ancestral lineages in the continued realization of our grace, abundance, and power. With the cowries, I am drawn to them organically, finding the African feminine embodied in the shells as we are unveiling the same feminine in each other.”

- Sierra Pickett

In this timely photo series “Who we are: the will to adorn”, the subjects adorn themselves with pieces of clothing and jewelry that have a history, sentimental meaning, and significance to their identity. In a time where racial division is on the rise and anti-immigration rhetoric is prevalent, it is a joining of women who have “the will”, the deliberate intention, to celebrate the beauty of who they are. The combination of photojournalistic photographs and unconventional portraiture place subjects in their own home or landscapes that resemble their native land. With this, I am inviting viewers to look, listen, and think about the significance of adornment, the value of culture, and the will that it takes to be who we are, truly and fearlessly in America.