Jon Henry - Stranger Fruit

Jon Henry Stranger Fruit

Published by Kris Graves Projects

Review By: Timothy LeBlanc

Jon Henry, “Untitled #48,” Inglewood, CA
Image Courtesy the Artist

Stranger Fruit by Jon Henry, published by Kris Graves Projects and available here, is the most important photobook to be published in 2023. It brings together a series of photos by Henry of the same title. In my opinion these will go down just as important as Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills or Carrie Mae Weems’ Kitchen Table series.

To start with the book itself, it is beautiful. Kris Graves Projects produced a book that is wonderful to look at even when closed and feels wonderful in your hand. It rewards a reader as you go through finding new layouts and patterning of its contents, that are explored below. Such care was put into the details, exemplified by the gold edging that reads “strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees | black bodies in our streets”

The works themselves are jarringly contemporary though they speak to four hundred plus years of American history and reach even further back in their art historical references. In a glance one will be sucked in but spending time with them will reward anyone willing to get them the time that they deserve.

The main body of images is these striking portraits of Black mothers holding their sons as if they are dying. Of course, for anyone present in America and wide swaths of Europe over the last few years, they will invoke the many young men who have been lost to violence. Often at the hands of police, those sworn to serve and protect.

In the pictures the mothers sit, and their sons lay back into their arms, a gesture reminiscent of both the first time the sons were cradled as babies and of the pieta. Children will forever be their mother’s baby, but they should never have to become the martyr that they are made into. Within this era of American history, we often martyr young men like those depicted because we lack adequate ways to honor them when they are lost violence that has been thrust upon them.

While I am no expert on race in America and would recommend everyone also read the excellent piece on Henry’s work done by the Marshall Project here, it is obvious that society has yet to realize the pain it continues to cause. While pieces like, “Untitled #48,” Inglewood, CA (found above) have clear symbolism in the Target logo, “Untitled #25,” Montgomery, AL (found below) with the Alabama state capital building are just as, if not more, impactful.

Jon Henry “Untitled #25,” Montgomery, AL
Image Courtesy of the Artist

These images are paired with photos that show the mothers in less staged settings, like their homes and texts written by the mothers, the texts are not paired one for one so each could be written by any mother in the series, about their experiences. For them it’s an act of contemplation, but to paraphrase one of the mothers, for others their sons don’t get to stand up and put back on their clothes. It’s a contemplation they must make far too often. and really could be said by some many mothers around our country that are not in the book.

I have shared Jon Henry’s work with many, and everyone has been affected by their strength. I may be biased as I have bought work of Henry’s but I think people seeing this work will help them to become better people. While each image is impactful in the book form they are a chorus that sings a song that is hard to ignore. There is no book which I would recommend someone buy more than this. Get it here from Kris Graves Projects.