The Self Publication
“Why I started.”
When I first started The Self Publication, I had gone away for grad school and had been studying the interactions within the community online for some time. I noticed the tension, but I also noticed the similarities and the beauty within the community. I wanted to create a project that worked against colorism, that supported the Black narrative, and that showed us in a beautiful light while pushing back against stereotypes.
Over time, I began building the project through my design and photography practice. I connected with individuals, invited them to be a part, and documented their stories through both conversation and portraiture. Together, we created something rooted in collaboration, where their stories led the images, forming a kind of core memory through the work.
So far, I have created three publications. Those volumes have deeply inspired me to continue, while also shifting how I approach storytelling. With this next phase, I am expanding the work.
I will continue to photograph a core group of 14 individuals, creating images that feel ethereal and intentional. At the same time, I am opening the work to stories from places I may never physically reach, building an ongoing archive that honors our experiences and preserves who we are.
The Self Publication will always be dear to me because documenting our stories matters.And now, I present The Power of Black Stories because I believe there is power in our voices. Our voices deserve to be documented, held, and remembered, not only in this moment, but forever.
Because we are history.
The Self Publication Story Excerpts
STORY BY DYLAN (FOR THE SELF PUBLICATION VOL. 3)
“Self-identity was something I struggled with for a very long time. Longing, seeking, and yearning to know how we got into the situation of slavery and genocide in this country, manifested into a conscious burden that was a brutal reality.
How can we fight for this long yet remain so joyful and fruitful in this demonic world? How have we endured this harsh reality for over 400 years? My heart and spirit knows there's always been a way out for us. From the Underground Railroad to the Exodus of Egypt, God-The Most High, has always made way.”
STORY BY AMANI (FOR THE SELF PUBLICATION VOL. 2)
“A lot of us tend to think that constant or recurring depression is normal, but it isn’t. We fight through our troubles alone until we’re tired, and then they consume us. We fight until we arrive at the point of no return, the point at which people laugh at and ostracize us because we seemed okay yesterday but completely snapped today.
People laugh because they aren’t aware, because they don’t understand, and because they weren’t taught to respect mental illness.”
STORY BY VARSITY (FOR THE SELF PUBLICATION VOL. 3)
“To be a "woke" Black person in America is to be on the brink of insanity. I mean, how could it not be. When you remove the 600 years of American chattel slavery and systemic oppression, then begin to learn about who melanated people - "us" - have been for thousands of years of civilization prior to this, how could that not drive you "crazy?”
Artist Story
I didn’t grow up in my parents’ home, and even though I only had my mom for a brief part of my life, that time made a deep impact on me. I faced many challenges growing up, and they were not always kind to the spirit. But one thing my step-grandfather told me, and blood would not have made him any closer, was to never lose my smile. That has stayed with me. To be honest it has saved me many times.
Creating work like this is an embodiment of that lesson. It is how I hold on to my inner light and my inner child, while also preserving and capturing the stories that shape who we are. I believe our stories are what make us. Even as life shifts and brings difficulty, they remain. As an artist, my purpose is to preserve Black stories, to document them, and to capture them through my photographic eye. I am committed to supporting the youth in my community and to spreading love in everything that I create.
Because without creativity, I do not think I would understand what is possible.
@nitashiajohnson
