Fran Sherman & I Am Why, I Am Why Reclaiming The Lens, 2020, 10 × 13.5 inches

I Am Why Reclaiming the Lens: A New Art and Social Justice Book

Reclaim the lens which we are  

seen through  

We are not crying for help we are  

roaring for our liberation 

– Kazani Lole Kalani Finao & Princess Ebony 

In the spring and summer of 2020, our country  confronted a pandemic and the killings of George  Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, which  sparked mass Black Lives Matter demonstrations  across the world. For our I Am Why community,  the inequities exposed by these crises were not  new—to watch our communities suffer and be  hurt and killed by those in power. But instead of  just watching, we wanted to say something, turn  inward and trust that our stories and solidarity  would guide us. We wanted to unmask the  systems that are designed to work against us. 

And thus, I Am Why Reclaiming the Lens was born. 

An art and social justice book, Reclaiming the Lens  invites the reader to join conversations among  I Am Why activists during the spring of 2020.  Based in our homes across the country, we  gathered to discuss portraits created at workshops  in 2018 and 2019—what we believed each artist  intended to say and what each piece meant to us. Reclaiming the Lens gives you the opportunity to  sit with our stories, learn from them and join the  conversation to dismantle the systems that  deprive us of our power and humanity.  

Because we know whoever controls the lens,  holds the power.

Reclaiming the Lens is both intimate and public.  Organized around the stages of our collective  journey, the portraits and writing in this volume  carry the reader from Recognition of our stories  to Pride in the power of our movement. Reclaiming  the Lens calls on the reader to share our struggles  and triumphs and, with new understanding and  vision, join the I Am Why movement. 

The work day may be over but we  know that the work is not done…  

As the journey took us from East  

to West restoratively,  

I AM made whole  

– Apriel Campbell & Princess Ebony 

I Am Why brings young women and gender expansive  activists together with researchers and other partners  to increase young activists’ individual and collective  power. By celebrating their strengths and sharing their  stories and visions for justice, young people lead the  way to policies, practices and programs that work.