“This Juneteenth I am resolved to ponder, what is it to celebrate freedom when freedom never came. There is a ledger, as long as time that tells the stories of all the atrocities and false promises within this country. To move forward, the world says some must forget and forgive that ledger, and to others, it says just lay down your power. We all know deep inside some things are not done freely. So to arms they go to collect what they are owed.” - Jay Simple

Virginia based photographer, activist, and educator Jay Simple’s work addresses the legacy and impact of colonialism and white supremacy in the United States. Across multiple bodies of work, from cinematic, staged self-portraits to historically charged landscapes, sculptural installations, and archival imagery, Simple questions and confronts viewers with the continuing path of racism, nationalism, colonialism, and notions of belonging.

I came across Simple’s work when I learned about his curatorial project The Photographer’s Greenbook. Simple launched this Instagram account and platform in May to highlight photography organizations that he sees – because of their commitment to inclusivity – as a safe haven for BIPOC photographers. A nod to Victor Hugo Green’s Negro Motorist Green-Book, published between 1936 and 1966 – an annual list of safe spaces for Black people to travel in the segregated United States – The Photographer’s Greenbook is a response to the often unspoken problem of racism and exclusion in contemporary photography. Many organizations, publishers, and the photographers they highlight (until a few weeks ago), despite how progressive they claim to be, are overwhelmingly white.

Moved by Simple’s personal work and photographic activism, I contacted him in early May to begin a dialog about his practice and path forward. After a few discussions, we felt it was appropriate to publish this in remembrance of the ingenious promises of Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Cel-Liberation Day, the annual holiday commemorating June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger read federal orders in Galveston, Texas, that all previously enslaved people in Texas were free.

Jon Feinstein in conversation with Jay Simple