Jon Henry: Stranger Fruit
Jon Henry is a visual artist from Queens, NY, working primarily with photography and text. His work reflects on ideas of family, sociopolitical issues, grief, trauma and healing within the African American community.
Jon’s current project, Stranger Fruit, is a response to the ongoing, senseless murders of African American men at the hand of police officers across the United States. Using Michelangelo’s Pietà as reference, Henry recreates the anguish a mother is forced to bear as she holds the lifeless body of her son. The viewer is invited to contemplate the intense pain and grief the family and community must endure after such violence.
Jon has been traveling across the US for the past five years to make these photographs. He plans to continue for at least another two years through various additional locations, including New Orleans, Nashville, and throughout Texas in 2020.
