One of my colleagues at The New School, Brian McGrath, told me about the concept of a non-heteronormative city inspired by Dolores Hayden’s 1980 article What Would a Non-Sexist City Be Like? Speculations on Housing, Urban Design, and Human Work. In Hayden’s article, she argues that “Dwellings, neighborhoods, and cities designed for homebound women constrain women physically, socially, and economically.” Even though I had already started tackling urban issues through my work and affiliations with various groups, it didn’t really click for me that urban spaces were designed to exclude, constrain, and harm people who fell outside of the norms of a white male, able-bodied, hetero resident/visitor. 

I was looking for more work, including academic literature, that engaged with Hayden’s analysis but from the perspectives of other groups of women, as I felt her paper spoke mainly to a white woman’s experience. I do not begrudge people for writing from their experiences. In response to that, I sought out texts, artwork, music, etc., that speak to the urban experiences of Afro-descendant women to better understand what Black women and people who may present or are socialized to have feminine bodies experience in cities. I am doing this because in my practice as a researcher, I want to understand how to make cities more just for all, and as Patricia Hill Collins theorizes in her work, analyzing the world from the perspective of Black women (and trans, non-binary people) allows for a richer and deeper understanding of the intersecting systems of the world, as those systems work in concert to oppress these groups. Their experiences can illuminate how those systems function, which for me, helps me understand how they can be challenged. 

I also draw from the lessons of Black Brazilian thinkers Livia de Souza Lima, Lélia Gonzalez and Sueli Carneiro’s decolonial feminist pedagogy, wherein I focus on recording the personal experiences of Black women and people assigned female at birth through highlighting ordinary experiences that “portray the empirical reality of gender and racial inequalities, that are shared by other Black women and derived from similar structures of oppression.”

Through this project, I am being very mindful of the relative societal power I have been bestowed, through no effort of my own, in relation with the collaborators by keeping in mind Black Feminist practices of reflexivity and the questioning of power relations. I am a Black, American, CiS hetero male photographer, and all of those intersecting identities hold a certain amount of power and influence over the people I am collaborating with. In the interview process with each person, I straight up ask if A). if they want to be perceived, and B). if yes, how do they want to be perceived? To a certain extent, I am happy to cede my power as the photographer and editor, as people should have as much control over images of them, no matter what the legal frameworks about ownership say. 

As with everything I do, this project is rooted in my compassion for others, my curiosity about the experiences of others, and my commitment to questions of environmental and climate justice. From an American context, we have seen that black women are the foundation of our society and so-called democracy in myriad ways, yet are some of the most disrespected and least listened to and cared for people in our country. Globally, women, non-binary, and trans people, depending on the place, are not allowed some of the safety and freedoms that I have, and both of those things trouble me deeply. Through this project, I want to visiblize these people (if they so wish) and share the words (with very, very light editing) that they have generously shared with me, using my platform and privileges. My hope is that this project and my research on how to make cities more just feed into each other and not only help me understand what I can do to make the world a more just place but also help others cultivate empathy and understanding. A colleague told me that the best way to make a place better for everyone is to make it great for the least vulnerable. I offer my deep appreciation to these people for sharing their time, experiences, and images with me and with anyone who happens to see this project.