Life & Work with Derrick Davis of Durham, NC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Derrick Davis

Derrick, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in Tacoma, WA and grew up in the American South, specifically Fayetteville, NC. My parents are both in the Army so I moved often while growing up. I received a BA in Hispanic Linguistics from UNC-Chapel Hill with a minor in African, African American, and Diaspora studies. I’m receiving my MA in Communication Sciences and Disorders from North Carolina Central University to be a Speech Language Pathologist.

Beyond school, I love being in community with people. I have become a photographer in the past two years to express myself while creating fun, community archives of people in spaces I am. Some of my favorite subjects depict life and the land in the American South from my perspective as an adventurous, critical Black boy.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Overall, it has been pretty smooth. Some of the many struggles have been navigating my purpose in life, specifically in a world that is anti Black and prioritizes profit over people.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Derrick Davis Jr. is a photographer, griot, and aspiring Speech Language Pathologist. Above all, he’s an adventurous, critical Black boy navigating a complex world. He seeks to find beauty internally through self portraits. He seeks to capture beauty externally through landscape street photography and documentary style photography of the community. His ultimate goal is to achieve peace and express all forms of himself. Whether it’s his advocacy for human rights, his career in communication, or his love for many subjects, he wants to see himself and all Black people, have the freedom to express themselves in any form.

My journey as a photographer began with simple disposable cameras and has bloomed into a complex reflection of myself. I seek to heal myself through self expression and exploration. I accomplish this by creating self portraits that capture myself in real time and guide me to answer questions of, “Why do I act and think the way I do.” At the core of my practice is inner Black boy work, which helps me answer these questions. I chose self portraits because I’m building a personal archive of my fire fits and lived experiences. I specifically want to show this through my journey traveling as a young Black man.
Additionally, I seek to discover and connect with Blackness in my life by creating a community archive. My goal is to capture the essence of real people in real time to reflect the many forms of Blackness in the world. I specifically enjoy capturing movement to represent the fluidity of Black people across the diaspora. I resist systems of oppression in all forms of my life and want to create art that represents Black resistance through everyday experiences. Our sole existence is resistance and I want to help share this with the world.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Curiosity is most important because it inspires me to ask questions and explore the world through my perspective. It also inspires me to create work that responds to the questions I ask myself to ultimately learn more about myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/esoderic3
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esoderic3/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrick-davis3/