Father Figure by Zun Lee

Father Figure: Exploring Alternate Notions of Black Fatherhood

At once documentary photography and personal visual storytelling, this award-winning project provides insight into often-overlooked aspects of African-descended family life.

Through intimate black-and-white frames, Zun Lee offers an intimate view into the daily lives of Black men with whom Lee has worked closely since 2011 and who are parenting in a variety of socioeconomic and personal circumstances. Lee brings into focus what pervasive father absence stereotypes have distorted - narratives by real fathers who are involved in their children's lives, who may not be perfect but whose presence firmly rejects familiar media caricatures.

Father Figure exposes the viewer to aspects of Black masculinity that many have not seen, or perhaps do not want to see. It shows these men not as victims of their circumstances but as empowered agents in their own lives, as capable parents, and above all as loving, wholesome human beings.