VELVET DITCH GODDAM

Andrea Morales

Oxford, Mississippi’s reputation as a comfortable place that’s hard to leave is reverberated through its nickname, The Velvet Ditch. Despite its impact as a cute bit of branding, the notion evokes much more resonant questions. Namely, whose existence is dignified by this velvet?

When George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officers on May 25, 2020, most of us were at home trying to keep ourselves and each other safe from the COVID-19 pandemic. The recurrent tragic and justless murder of a black person by the state was broadcast and viralized once again. Despite the virus lingering in the air we share, there was a global response to Mr. Floyd’s death. Communities took to the streets and held space in public places to demand for justice against racist, violent and sexist oppression.

Oxford is in Lafayette County and a quarter of its residents are African-American or Black. Protests started that last week of May in honor of Mr. Floyd, as well as Breonna Taylor (the Louisville, Kentucky woman killed in her home by police serving a no-knock warrant) and Ahmaud Arbery (the Brunswick, Georgia man that was killed by white vigilante cosplayers while he was out for a run.) The protests naturally descended on the town’s iconic square where one of two memorials to Confederate soldiers in town stands. The other statue is about a mile away on the campus of the University of Mississippi.

The question of who Oxford is comfortable for reemerged in a painful way during this time. While trying to manifest a moment of solidarity, a statue that represents a legacy of defending the enslavement of black people, stood towering over all.

These photographs are a retelling of what the summer of 2020 looked and felt like while organizing in a place where moderate attitudes have prevailed and the path for the radical change desired is narrow.

Project title references Ms. Nina Simone’s anthem about moderation against oppression Mississippi Goddamn

Andrea Morales is a documentary photographer and journalist that was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Miami, Florida. Her personal work attempts to lens the issues of displacement, disruption and everyday magic. Adding glimpses of daily life to the record is central to how she makes work.

While earning a B.S. in journalism at the University of Florida and an M.A. in visual communication at Ohio University, she worked as a photojournalist at newsrooms big and small like the New York Times and The Concord Monitor. She is currently a producer at the Southern Documentary Project, an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi and the visuals director for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism.

She is also working on finishing up her M.F.A. in documentary expression.

See more of Andrea’s work at http://andreamoralesphoto.com