On SEEING: A Journal #512
Growing UP: Jahbari Snipes
January 31, 2023
The “Growing Up “Project:I have studied over 200 children from childhood into their 20’s. I began with some when their mothers were pregnant, as was the case with Ina Norris, Jahbari’s mother. For all of them I made annual studio portraits and asked them to write answers to a series of questions, a kind of diary about their lives, their feelings, their hopes, their regrets.
This special young man, Jahbari Snipes, proved to be as remarkable and authentic as any of the many young people I have had the privilege to get to know.
4 and 22 years
17 days
3 years
4 years
5 years
6 years
7 years
With his brother, Elijah
8 years
9 years
10 years
11 years
12 years
14 years old
19 years
With mom, Ina Norris
22 years
Thank you, Jahbari (and Ina); you did great—it was a real gift to see you each year.
I am interested in everything about human development. I am fascinated by maturation, growth, emotional, educational and physical development. My exploration, a major 30 year odyssey, has been an adventure that has yielded riches beyond my imagining.
Permission was signed by the parents of each and every child every year, and by the participants themselves once they turned 18. In addition, we’ve now sent copies of all of their writings and edited photographs to the participants for whom I have finished all my editing and have received full written permission from that group to publish and post.
