Father Figure – Exploring Alternate Notions of Black Fatherhood from Zun Lee on Vimeo.
Abandoned by his own father before birth, Zun Lee is out to bust the stereotypes of black fatherhood by showing us a different picture.
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“Scenes that can stand on their own and humanize the black experience without demanding perfection or respectability.”
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Over the course of three years photographer Zun Lee has masterfully attempted to change the perception of the African American father through the lens of his camera. This collection of photographs in the new book, Father Figure – Exploring Alternate Notions of Black Fatherhood, is an immersive approach to his remarkable photo documentary project. “Scenes that can stand on their own and humanize the black experience without demanding perfection or respectability,” says Lee were filmed with so much care—vivid images of loving parental relationships that are able to engross any spectator into a family story that is tough to believe. An added revelation: The photographer himself grew up feeling a sense of loss due to his own father’s choice to abandon his family.
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Lee, a Toronto-based physician and now self-described street photographer, was born in Germany to what he thought was both a Korean mother and father. As a boy he learned the truth: his black father left his mother upon learning she was pregnant. Lee’s search for compassion led him to families in urban areas of Chicago, New York City, and home to Toronto. He says, “There’s been considerable backlash and confusion regarding why black fatherhood stereotypes are a problem at all, why the special focus on only black fathers, and people who simply refuse to believe that black men can be capable, affectionate loving fathers, period. I appreciate both sides of the collective commentary, because it exemplifies why these images and a broader conversation are needed.”
“It was about immersing myself in contexts that allowed me to revisit my childhood, reclaim some of my experiences, and above all, get to a place of forgiveness for any resentment I harbored.”
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Lee’s impressive work defies the often quoted statistics that almost two-thirds of black children are raised in single-parent households, the vast majority of them being led by the mother. Says Lee, “The moments I spent living and working with the families were perhaps the most fulfilling for me because it wasn’t just about photography. It was about immersing myself in contexts that allowed me to revisit my childhood, reclaim some of my experiences, and above all, get to a place of forgiveness for any resentment I harbored.”
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Zun Lee is a member of the documentary and photography film collective Aletheia Photos. His work has been published in Burn Magazine, The New York Times’s Lens Blog, Revista Photo Magazine, Slate, and many other journals. He has been named on “PDN 30 2014,” Photo District News’ annual global list of 30 new and emerging photographers to watch. In June, he was the only Canadian invitee at the prestigious LOOK3 LOOKbetween 2014 photo festival in Charlottesville, VA.
Father Figure – Exploring Alternate Notions of Black Fatherhood will be released on September 19, 2014. Visit www.ceibafoto.com to pre-order.
Photo—Zun Lee/Vimeo