Artwork
Artist Statement: Through delving into historic archives I aimed to render the legacy of Reverend Frank Quarles via archival photographs from the religious and academic institutions he laid the foundation for. Instead of orienting his life around his period of enslavement I sought to present a loose archival timeline through varying frameworks. These frameworks include the structures, congregation and students that sprung forth from his efforts in life. Starting with the physical structures of these institutions I present train boxcars, the building for Friendship Baptist Church and the collegiate buildings from the Atlanta University Center. From there I focus on the people directly affected by his legacy both the congregation of Friendship Baptist Church and the students and graduates of historic universities that sit upon the shoulders of Rev. Quarles.
Brandon English is an interdisciplinary visual artist interested in archival practices and how they intersect with vestiges of vernacular image making both contemporary and historic. Through the lens of democratized imaging technologies (cellphones, DSLRs, surveillance cameras etc.) and public/private archive diving, he aims to render issues of race, identity and political/social discourse with an exactitude concentrated on lived experiences rather than image fidelity. Having worked as a photo-journalist for nearly a decade in Atlanta, he currently finds himself aiming to philosophically/aesthetically shed his normative journalistic practices in search of a more personal discipline.