Together for Now

I live in Oakland, California on the very block you see in these photos. This one block has folks from all corners of the world, socioeconomic levels, races, and religions. We set off fireworks together for the Fourth of July, double park like it’s legal, and block our parking spots with cones.

I plan to document our block for years to come.

This project documents families and individuals who have lived here for generations, as well as those who are new; birthday parties, front yard hangouts, the monumental moments and the mundane; and the block itself – of trees growing over time, random furniture on sidewalks, and the details that people passing by might miss.

As a storyteller documenting my own neighborhood, I aim to shift away from the traditional audience; these photos are for us - the residents. In 2020, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition declared San Francisco and Oakland as the most intensely gentrified cities in America, even before the impacts of COVID-19. Instead of the usual narrative of gentrification overcoming a place, these intimate portraits memorialize each person as part of this block, giving our community an active voice as change comes.

 And when one of us leaves, the neighborhood changes. In time, whether we each stay, choose to leave, are displaced, or even pass away, we will have this project to remind us of who we once were together.