Book Under the Pew is a personal photographic and written thesis rooted in my family's history of Black land ownership and honoring the resilience of the Whitaker family matriarch, who defended, fought, and protected our property in Metter, Georgia, when the men were called to war in the mid-1900s.

At the heart of this work is a question I kept asking myself: How did we make it? This work is my way of searching for an answer.

One Sunday, as I was leaving church service, my eye caught a book wedged under one of the pews. It wasn’t a Bible or a hymnal, but it was a book that was clearly out of place and forgotten. Yet, it was holding everything together. That title and photograph became a metaphor for my family—for all the unseen labor, quiet faith, and untold stories that keep our family upright for generations.

The photographs honor the people and places that helped the Whitakers sustain this property while exploring themes of family, matriarchy, childhood, the Whitaker property itself, and the Southern Baptist church.

Book Under the Pew is a tribute to the people and land that raised the Whitaker family.

It's an ode to making sure our stories—both seen and unseen—are written down, told, and never forgotten.