A decaying billboard, depicting a man's peaceful face and the vestiges of the word "trust," still speaks deeply to me about the tender situation that we find ourselves in. The original image is a touching portrait of a man, somewhat unusual in commercial art for his pensive expression. I took this photo on my way back from a trip through the deep South, during the primary election season of 2008 when I worked on the Obama campaign.The love for the young candidate in the places I worked drew directly on the felt losses of Martin Luther King, JFK, and FDR. I saw hope rather than despair in this image when I caught it on the highway leaving Memphis. I still do. "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality." -- MLK
Digital color photograph by American abstract realist Jo Brown, composition in gray, black, and brown, April 2008; edited 2015.
