Taken between 2016 and 2018, the pictures in Let Me Sow Love go beyond simplistic confrontations and stereotypes and draw a tender and compassionate portrait of an aching American community.

When politicians and pundits talk about the heartland, or the heart of the country, they’re generally not pandering to places like Roger Richardson’s Middletown, which is located in Orange County, in New York’s Hudson Valley. Yet the people and places in Let Me Sow Love exist right smack in the middle of myriad 21st-century American realities. Refreshingly, though, there’s not so much as a whiff of polemic in Richardson’s photographs. As the title suggests, this is a book full of what feel like genuine and compassionate interactions and engagements, as opposed to the now-expected confrontations. You sense right away that Richardson knows this place intimately, and these are his people. As a result, Let Me Sow Love presents with remarkable clarity a compelling portrait of an utterly realistic human community at a unique and radically insecure moment in the country’s history.

The late Philip Levine, arguably the greatest working-class poet of the late 20th century, once said that his goal was to write poems so transparent that “no words are noticed. You look through them into a vision of the people, the place.” Time and again, Richardson realizes Levine’s vision through his photographs, and it’s a vision that will be achingly familiar to anyone who grew up in or has spent time in strikingly similar working-class cities and towns all over the United States.

Let me Sow Love is the result of the growing social, political, and racial divide in the United States. As a firm believer in social and political progress, I feel as though, as a nation, we’ve lost our footing on the path towards change and growth. A culture of anxiety has spread rampantly over the place I call home, to a point where I questioned my place in this community. Rather than searching for evidence of this divide, I chose to use a more meditative approach in making this work. I realized photography can be used as a tool for emotional healing, self-reflection, and mindfulness. These photographs are a culmination of different things I am trying to keep a hold of during turbulent times. The work functions as a way for me to stay connected to a world I’ve grown extremely wary of.

These images utilize themes of love, faith, and uncertainty to represent my emotions during our current climate. Using a documentary-like approach, the viewer is transported to a semi-fictional world where multiple vantage points and different compositions invite the viewer to engage with the subjects presented in a first-person perspective. Small gestures and movements are highlighted, showing the beauty of everyday life. – Roger Richardson

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Let Me Sow Love by Roger Richardson

80 Pages
Hardcover
B&W Duotone Offset
9” x 11”
ISBN: 978-1-952523-06-9

Published by Deadbeat Club – https://deadbeatclubpress.com/products/roger-richardson-let-me-sow-love

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Roger Richardson is a photographer living and working in the Hudson Valley, New York. He received his BFA in Photography from SUNY Purchase College in 2016 and has exhibited globally. His work lies within a documentary style, focusing on issues of race, community, faith and the everyday.

Established in 2011 by Clint Woodside, Deadbeat Club is an award winning independent publisher & coffee roaster located in Los Angeles, California. Rooted in contemporary photography, our ethos on small run, limited edition publications carries into our small batch single origin, signature blend and limited release coffees.