99
A CHOICE THAT FEELS
LIKE FALLING
GIONCARLO
VALENTINE
PHOTOGRAPHER
NOW THAT WHITE
EDITORS, producers
and agencies have
discovered that Black
people exist and that they
are impossibly talented
and brilliant, we are
witnessing a scramble
to inauthentically correct
racist histories. Often,
this scramble feels
like progress to those
outside of marginalized
communities. Inside,
however, we are just
waiting for this fad to
come to an end and for
the work to dry up, as has
been the case across
nearly all mediums
when it comes to Black
talent. We are treated as
interchangeable, as if our
work is not special. There
can be no real revolution,
no substantial change
inside of institutions
pretending that they want
it, until white people
in power relinquish it.
This photograph feels
like a dialogue around a
double consciousness,
a mediation around
the difficulty of choice
between two outcomes.
Do you accept this
deluge of attention and
use it for what it’s worth,
or do you turn down
these opportunities
that feel disingenuous?
Sometimes, this choice
feels like falling.