Again: As They See Us.
Again: As They See Us. by Lee Andrew, was chosen for the Cultural Relevance Award in DAG’s Member Showcase 2026. DAG artist and Board Member, Delayna Robbins, provided the following note with her selection…
“When I look at this piece, I feel the emotion and weight of the bondage of being a Black man in society on display for the world to see, confined by so many narratives, and fearful of how the world will react. The way the artist fragments the frames captures the many complex themes and experiences of Black men while unifying them into a single, cohesive image. I see this piece as not only culturally relevant, but timeless.” -Delayna Robbins
We sent the North Carolina artist questions about the piece, process, conversations, and cultural relevance. Lee Andrew honored our guild with his response.
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Process
I have moments where I sit down and think about my life and my existence.
How long do I have left? How long do Black people have left?
I’m always afraid and in fear for my life. Being black is a target.
I am a film photographer. I speak through my lens.
Capturing the unknown realities of Black life takes time. Being me, takes time.
I have to understand that my existence is not only controversial and inferior, it is feared. So it takes time to capture this existence. Sometimes it’s just a drink and a bag of candy. How do you capture that in 24 frames? I’m a film photographer. Every moment is intentional, the why, the how, and what I saw, was a drink and a bag of candy. His name is Trayvon Martin.
That’s how they see us:
Suspicious
Out of place
In the place that
(They) put us in.
“Again, As They See Us.”
Imagine becoming a hashtag every day. I started my photography journey in 2012. Think about that time, think about when I started capturing these unknown realities. Think about it. Think about the tragedies.
This process was painful.
Food.
I wanted the subject to feel comfortable—I cooked them their favorite meal.
I asked them what they, he, liked to drink. Some of my subjects decided on red wine, some decided that in order to get through this process, they needed something harder. This was hard. Being black is hard. It wasn’t hard to get to know this subject. He wasn’t initially my friend, but he saw me. He saw my inner child: rough, hard, disconnected from my father, the same father that brought me to photography, buying my first yellow film camera. He saw me and we saw each other, the child that was separated from being a child and the healing that we both deserved. The process was personable, allowing them to see themselves the way that they wanted to, how they wanted to be. I’ve captured many moments, but in this moment—it was beautiful, it was painful and so fucking real; blackness is real. We question what blackness is even when we see it every day. It is around you when you don’t even want it to be. It is me. However, I need to wrap this up.
The reality is, I don’t have the time.
The Piece
“Again, As They See Us,” is a five-piece collage. Piece by piece, section by section; how do I put myself back together again? We were dismembered. What would this subject look like as a collage. How do I capture this existence? Our Cross-atlantic journey. Our 1619 to 1865. Jim Crow. Police brutality. How do we capture “hanging" ourselves? Layers upon layers of what black people have endured.
My piece is called “Again As They See Us,” the question in itself is answered in the title. For clarification, there is nothing experimental about being Black, however, we have been experimented on: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Dr. J. Marion Sims, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; we have been experimented with. I want to create visibility to our experiences. This process as uncovered a few of my insecurities, the art in itself as made me also a target.
What does space look like?
This piece, but pieces, for some time I’ve felt that I wanted to put it to rest. I’ve held on these but this piece of so long, I no longer saw fruition. It was almost had if it had died within me. But one day, after days, and days of seeing and hearing in the news of black bodies lynching themselves, I thought about a message that I had put out in New York City, so many years ago, after a a young man I knew, who lived in the building next to me was killed for just being mentally ill. A young man whom everyone knew in the neighborhood but unbeknownst to the police. I never knew that experience was so visceral. It took me five years to unpack that pain. I had already left New York. But I had also unknowingly documented years, but a life experience of being black and it hit me so hard, that after those years of silencing my art, my being, I felt more alive. So, this experience of over almost ten years, have driven me further in my truth. I am pushing further and bring “Bondage and Freedom” to the forefront.
This image, Again, As They See Us”, is paramount to me. I want to bring my entire collection of “Bondage and Freedom” to a worldly lens that I’ve manifested over ten years of watching us “black people” being loudly but silently erased.
Cultural Relevance
When I think about conversations, and I will say it through the art, that of cultural relevance.
Why are we still having this conversation? When you look at this piece that I presented to you, what do YOU think? What about this piece that would spark conversation with me or to the masses.
Be that as it may, and this is not a conversation per say, maybe a starter; would anyone trade places with said black person? Why you would or wouldn’t?
Conversations, after seeing this piece… my questions are…
What do you think about this piece?
How do you feel?
What thoughts came to your mind when you first saw this?
I would like for people to pay attention to the color in this piece. As an Analog photographer, and how in past times, black people were not considered being photographed properly. I think of color, and how it emulates us. Blue, red, and yellow see us differently. And so, I manifested on that. In this piece, it was a reflection of calmness in the storm.
Here I am, as I am, and as you see me. Calm. Through the storm you bring to me, and in my storm, I remain calm.
-Lee Andrew
