‘Kinship & Community’ book spotlights life and culture of Black Texans

Photographer Rahim Fortune took one of the photos he is best known for in 2020 in Edna, Texas.

“This photograph, in a way, shows a kind of passing of the traditions here in Texas,” said Fortune, “in which people are working to preserve a kind of cultural heritage.”

It’s titled “Praise Dancers” and it shows three women in a Baptist Church, dressed in white with their arms spread wide.

Rahim Fortune poses with his new photo collection, “Kinship & Community.” Porshea Goins / Texas Standard

This photo documents just one aspect of Black womanhood and it’s one of many photos Fortune has taken across the American South.

In 2024, he traveled across Texas to get pictures for his contribution in the book titled “Kinship & Community: Selections from the Texas African American Photography Archive.”

Fortune has photographed celebrities like Solange, Whoopi Goldberg, Chase Infiniti, Tyra Banks and Carmelo Anthony, among others.

For the book, Fortune gets personal with an essay called “Between a Memory and Me: A Photographic Essay.”

“The essay only tracks one year of photographs,” said Fortune. “I chose to focus on things like small-town churches, HBCU parades and coronations, as well as some of the regional Black rodeos.”

Typically, Fortune’s pictures are published in black and white. However, with this publication, he decided to shake things up and publish pictures in color.

“I kind of find color photography more objective in a modern context because post-1990, the kind of primary mode of images that we see are in color. So I find color more challenging, but in a very exciting way,” said Fortune.

Pulling inspiration from the soul era in the 1950s, Fortune feels like music and photography are interchangeable.

“If you think about the blues or you think about country standards, they’re quite simple,” explained Fortune. “I think of it very similarly with photographs. I could go on and on about that connection, cause it’s kind of what keeps me excited.”

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