Jamie Robertson uses her family history to reconcile wider narratives around the African Diaspora in her new book from Fifth Wheel Press, Charting the Afriscape of Leon County.

Robertson pairs images from her childhood and family archive with new landscape photographs and tableaux, and text, often from her family mythos and West African cosmologies, giving her images greater context.

A darkly lit yet highly saturated photograph of domino players, their faces obscured by shadow and a wide-brimmed straw hat on one page, a 1980s family reunion snapshot on the other. Dominos, a constant in her family history, symbolize generational ties, traditions, and holding fast to cultural and family evolutions.

In another pairing, Robertson re-photographs a landscape on her family’s property originally depicted in an image from her family's archive, the new image in conversation with the original on an opposite page. Instead of approaching the two photos as a “then and now” typology, the new photograph takes on a spiritual aspect. The pairing becomes a personal meditation on how we remember a place, and the potential for spirituality to soak into its memory.

Charting the Afriscape of Leon County, Texas highlights and centers the importance and continuity of Black life, spirituality, and its intersection with the land throughout Robertson’s lineage and creative practice.

We recently spoke about Robertson’s work, her family history, and the process of publishing a book during a pandemic. (Humble editor’s note: this book is being printed in a limited 1st edition of 50 copies - if you’re at all considering purchasing one, we highly recommend acting on that consideration soon.)

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Jamie Robertson