My daughter and my nieces’ involvement in each other’s lives is both gravitational and expected. Growing up is complicated. The girls have each other to navigate this tender process, and I admire their innocent, confident, relationships with themselves, with the world around them, and the relationship they have with each other. Between them is an intimate and spiritual knowledge that is both ordinary and extraordinary, and I’m indebted to these three beauties for letting me capture the brilliance of their communion and kinship.

As they have matured, they have begun to understand that the lives of Black girls are not well documented, and they agree that one added intention of this series is to bring forward the girls’ perspective. My hope is that when they look back on this work, they will see the beauty of their childhood together, and when they look for everyday representations of themselves in the world, they will find themselves here in this work we made together, reflected with love.

This project is ongoing.