We have Made These Lands What They Are

For her editioned portfolio, We Have Made These Lands What They Are: The Architecture of Slavery, Salmon spent two years photographing ante-bellum Southern plantations and collecting the language and history of the U.S. slave economy. The work explores family histories and their complex layers of relationships, unveiling the many significant links between black peoples’ past and present. Salmon examines her connection to her own past, her partnership with her husband and ancestors’ ownership of slaves, and her relationship with her children, and a future generation that will continue to grapple with an identity born from a tragic history.