When Morning Comes

• Prize
• Photographer
  Brandon Thibodeaux, United States
• Studio
  Brandon Thibodeaux Photography
• Socials
• Website
  http://www.brandonthibodeaux.com

When Morning Comes is a reflection of life in the Mississippi Delta.
I first traveled to the region in the summer of 2009 because I
needed to breathe after my own troubled times. I was in search of
something stronger than myself and attended its churches not to
photograph but to cry and be redeemed and to just be a part of
the place. I was there to listen as I prayed for a revelation.

Over the past five years I have witnessed signs of strength against
struggle, humility amidst pride, and a promise for deliverance in
the lives that I’ve come to know here. This is a land stigmatized by
poverty beneath a long shadow of racism. I do not wish to
overlook this fact but rather look between it for evidence of the
tender and yet unwavering human spirit that resides within its
fabric.

I photograph in five communities that span roughly 15 square
miles of the northern Mississippi Delta. Villages with names like
Alligator, and BoBo, as well as the country’s oldest completely
African American city, Mound Bayou, where in 1910, a New York
Times headline once declared, “no white man can own a square
foot of property.”

In what began as a journey for personal exploration is found a
narrative of another man’s faith, identity, and perseverance. I see
the strength of a single man while acknowledging the machine
that replaced thousands, the flight of childhood innocence
grounded by the scar of life hard lived, a living room altar to a
symbolic president and a toppled white king in a conquered game
of chess.

While this work makes specific reference to the rural black
experience, I am reminded with every visit that these themes of
faith, identity, and perseverance are common to us all. These are
the traits of strong men.

• Biography
  Brandon Thibodeaux's career in photography began at a small daily newspaper in southeast Texas while studying photography at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX, under Keith Carter. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Photojournalism from the University of North Texas with a specialization in International Development. He currently resides in Houston, TX, where he works for clients like AT&T, ESPN, Shell Oil Smithsonian Magazine, Mother Jones, Monocle, FT Weekend Magazine, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
• Awards
  2017 - Slow Exposures Juried Exhibition, 1st Place Award 2016 - Palm Springs Photo Festival Portfolio Review Prize 2014 - Michael P. Smith Fund for Documentary Photography, Recipient - AI AP: American Photography 30 – Selected Works 2013 - Photolucida: Critical Mass Solo Exhibition Award - Griffin Museum of Photography - Photolucida: Critical Mass, Top 50 (When Morning Comes) - CENTER Awards: Gallerist Choice Award, 2nd Place (When Morning Comes) - PDN Faces Contest: First Place (‘Mississippi 662’ - When Morning Comes) - Michael P. Smith Fund for Documentary Photography, Finalist 2012 - Photolucida: Critical Mass, Finalist (When Morning Comes) - Magenta Foundation: Flash Forward, US Winner (When Morning Comes) - Oxford American: 100 Under 100, New Superstars of Southern Art 2012 - Center: Review Santa Fe, Participant (When Morning Comes) 2011 - FotoWeek DC: 1st Place, Portrait (‘Switch For My Cousin’ - When Morning Comes) - Michael P. Smith Fund for Documentary Photography, Finalist 2010 - LOOKbetween Featured Artist, Charlottesville, VA, 2010 2009 - Getty Reportage Emerging Talent, 2009-10 2007 - Hearst Journalism Awards Program, San Francisco, CA, Finalist 2006 - Eddie Adams Workshop XIX, Jeffersonville, NY