April Dobbins '99 selected from over 400 applicants to attend world-renowned photographer's summer workshop

I have been selected from over 400 applicants to attend Little Brown Mushroom's (LBM) Camp for Socially Awkward Storytellers this summer--a workshop run by world-renowned photographer Alec Soth in Minnesota. While the workshop itself is free, I must cover all other expenses.

While at LBM Camp, I plan to further refine my current photography project Alabamaland, which utilizes photography, audio recordings, and essays to capture the daily lives and traditions of black farmers in rural Alabama. I started Alabamaland when I moved back home to Alabama in 2007 after over a decade away.

My grandfather, a 91-year-old black man, owns a large farm in Alabama. His farm was cobbled together by our ancestors--former slaves--with the help of their former slave owner. On a good summer day, if you are willing to venture deep into the forest and beat back the kudzu, undergrowth, and rattlesnakes, you can find the slave graveyard. The photographs from this series document a way of life that is endangered today--that of the black farmer.