Rashod Taylor is a fine art and portrait photographer based in Bloomington, IL, where he lives with his wife and son. His ongoing series, “Little Black Boy,” addresses themes of race, culture, family, and legacy. A family album of sorts, the series documents the excitements and mundanity of daily life for the Taylor family. While the images are a personal recollection of family experiences, they also speak to more universal truths—“they’re a window onto the Black American experience,” Taylor explains.

“As I document my son I am interested in examining his childhood and the world he navigates. At the same time these images show my own unspoken anxiety and fragility as it pertains to the wellbeing of my son and fatherhood. At times I worry if he will be ok as he goes to school or as he plays outside with friends as children do. These feelings are enhanced due to the realities of growing up black in America. He can’t live a carefree childhood as he deserves; there is a weight that comes with his blackness, a weight that he is not ready to bear. It’s my job to bear this weight as I am accustomed to the sorrows and responsibility it brings, the weight of injustice, prejudices, and racism that has been interwoven in our society and institutional systems for hundreds of years. I help him through this journey of childhood as I hope one day this weight will be lifted.”

See more from “Little Black Boy” below.