Myra Greene has often used the human body—primarily black and brown ones, often her own—to explore issues of difference, beauty, and memory. In conversations with white friends, she realized that they had very different notions of racial identity than her own; in one pivotal exchange, a friend remarked that he really didn’t think about whiteness at all. “I had never considered this was possible,” says Greene. “My White Friends” was born out of this revelation. The project’s “racial identity portraits” are co-constructions with Greene’s friends that allow them to “respond to the idea of being imaged for their race,” she says. Her goal is thoughtful dialogue about how we describe and think about racial identity: “I want conversations, not categories.”



This photo slideshow features a recording of Myra’s talk at the reception & book signing for “My White Friends” on April 9, 2014 at the Center for Documentary Studies.

Exhibition Dates: Monday, March 10–Saturday, May 17, 2014
Center for Documentary Studies, Juanita Kreps Gallery
1317 W. Pettigrew St., Durham, North Carolina