Photographer Elroy Johnson taps into Humanity in Oak Cliff [Article]
Capturing Humanity is photographer and documentarian Elroy Johnson’s highest aspiration. Mostly captured in black and white, Johnson’s photography often leaves the onlooker to grapple only with the raw emotions of the subjects.
In light of the recent death of Geoge Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minn., photographers, like Johnson, have been documenting the demonstrations occurring everywhere in the streets of America in response to the racial and social injustices experienced by black Americans at the hands of law enforcement. Johnson is documenting these protests in his home community of Oak Cliff in Dallas, Texas; once home to famed black Americans like music legend T-Bone Walker and basketball Hall-of-Famer Dennis Rodman.
With a historically and culturally rich black heritage, much of Johnson’s work is inspired by and influenced by the Oak Cliff community. In the 1960s at the time that many other black families from rural communities were moving into the area, both sets of Johnson’s grandparents moved to Oak Cliff from rural cotton communities. His maternal grandparents moved from rural Louisiana, while his paternal ones moved from rural Texas. In fact, his paternal grandmother, Doris Johnson, belonged to one of the first black families on their particular street in Oak Cliff.
“The neighborhood is where I can recall my first birthday memories, spending summers in church revivals, and spending time with cousins.” - Johnson.
Before Oak Cliff, there was Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Johnson used to live in the city and always felt very connected to it as he does now with Oak Cliff. In 2016, he returned. What initially was supposed to be just a trip to visit turned into Johnson documenting the protests and vigils being held around the city for Alton Sterling, the 37-year-old black man who was shot and killed by two white Baton Rouge Police Department officers on July 5, 2016. The day after on July 6, 32-year-old black American Philando Castile was shot and killed by Hispanic-American police officer Jeronimo Yanez. Like George Floyd’s death, Sterling’s and Castile’s deaths sparked controversy over race relations between not only the citizens of Baton Rouge and law enforcement.The ripple effect made its way to Dallas, Texas where on the night of July 7 following a night of peaceful protest in response to Sterling and Castille’s deaths, Micah Xavier Johnson killed five police officers before being killed himself by a robot-delivered bomb. Even as far away as in the Bahamas and The United Arab Emirates, the governments of those nations cited racial tensions as cause for cautioning their citizens when traveling to the U.S.
Most of this gallery of Johnson’s protest photography consists of images captured in North Baton Rouge in front of the store where Sterling was killed and in Lee Circle in New Orleans showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I heard the news of the killing of Alton Sterling and wanted to document the movement in the city I use to call home.” - Johnson
Johnson’s work to issue credence within and to the black community in Oak Cliff doesn’t stop at photography. He has also produced numerous short documentaries. An official selection at Capital City Black Film Festival in 2019, The Ladies of Oak Cliff is about two friends’ recollection of tending to the “private homes” of Dallas’ wealthiest during the 1960s in Oak Cliff. One of the ‘two friends’ is Johnson’s grandmother. Johnson’s first full-length, currently on the film festival circuit, is called Building the Bridge: Welcome to Oak Cliff. It is a commentary on the lack of exposure to S.T.E.M. and S.T.E.A.M. education amongst black youth in Oak Cliff. He interviews community members like Torian Spencer of YesThrive and J. LeShaé Jenkins of BOOM - Building Opportunities & Opening Minds. Oak Cliff Documentary is currently documenting non-profits and individuals working to feed families in the area.
One of the most powerful images of this selection of Johnson’s work is of a woman holding up her fist at a community meeting at the Friendship West Church in Oak Cliff. This image was taken following the deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castille, Micah Xavier Johnson and the Dallas PD officers.
Returning to the subject of Humanity in his work, Johnson adds,
“I hope to document the stories of humanity. I hope my work always shows the humanity of any situation or group of people I am documenting. I believe we all have to see and understand the humanity of one another in this world, it is important to move forward.”
Audrey Rodriguez is a third generation Mexican-American Texan. She has strong recollections growing up in the Denver Harbor neighborhood of the greater Fifth Ward in Houston, TX. She remembers how the afternoon sunlight caught the colorful streamers of piñatas at numerous neighbors' and cousins' birthday parties. Audrey is a graduate of both the University of Texas at Austin and Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. After an education in media studies, applied human development and advertising and marketing, she has found significance in the world as a cause marketer. Audrey currently lives in Euless, TX with her boyfriend, two cranky cats and the prospects of adopting a scruffy dog one day soon. She likes running, yoga and British culture and BBC New. Audrey has almost mastered veganism.
Audrey is a freelance writer in DFW and is looking for a new story. Follow Audrey on Twitter and Instagram @audriguez.