Context 2023: Highs & Lows / Ebbs & Flows

Featured Work

Sundown: A Mini Photo Essay on Our Not-so-Distant Past.

In the artist’s words:

“In this small series, I photographed parts of Ravenna, Kentucky over the course of 3 days.

Ravenna was once a thriving community that furnished iron products and washed coal to the rest of the country over the railroads. In 1920, just a few short months after all of Corbin’s Black residents were forced onto a train bound for Knoxville, the same happened in Ravenna. In that moment, Ravenna and neighboring Irvine became sundown towns, kicking off a chain of events that eventually led to economic struggles still felt today.

Telling the story proved to be difficult; after all, how do you capture what happened 100 years ago?

My hope is that the viewer contemplates the imagery and how decisions of the past can still be felt today.”

Further reading:

A History of Blacks in Kentucky, Vol. 2-George C. Wright

About the artist:

JV Haynes II first entered the world of photography during training at the Defense Information School in Fort Meade, Maryland.

After 7 years of service in the Navy, he put down a camera after retiring and recently returned to the field.

Currently residing in Estill County, Kentucky, JV’s aim is to capture the world around us through photography and tell stories that connect the past to the present and future.

Current projects:

The History of the Negro League: A Story of Baseball & Civil Rights (working title)

The Negro League Uniform Database - https://www.nlbuniforms.com/

Contact:

https://linktr.ee/jvhaynes