Cyrah M. Joseph
In this body of work called In construction, I navigate my time in hotels, on trains, and renovating my new house in Crown Heights. I feel like I am in between stages and spaces. I’m not fully grounded but close. This work speaks to the process of adapting and changing. I document the spaces around me to better understand myself and this transition. Rather than documenting myself and my family, I chose to photograph the spaces around me that have impacted my development through this past year. While moving through spaces and making pictures, this project has taught me that nothing is fully solidified or concrete. The world we live in is constantly changing rapidly, from the nights spent in my hotel room, to the one hour long train rides to the long days of construction. Our humanity, the world we live in, or the world we want, we have full access to create and mold.
Cyrah Joseph is from Brooklyn, New York, and has Jamiacan and Haitiain heritage. Cyrah uses digital and analog photography as a form of storytelling to rethink Black narratives and culture that relates to her experiences. Cyrah explores themes of vulnerability, black aesthetics, family, queerness, and identity. She has taken classes in Teen Academy at the International Center of Photography and is currently a student in their Imagemakers Program. She has also been on several panels for the Photoville Festival and a part of the New York University Future Imagemakers program. She draws inspiration from Gordon Parks, LaToya Ruby Frazier, and Carrie Mae Weems. Cyrah will be studying in the Department of Photography and Imaging at New York University Tisch School of the Arts in the fall.