49th ABS Annual Conference

In 1994 popular media was documenting the “Black American male” as a species that was headed for extinction. The words “O SON OF DUST!” became the foundation of the photographic project “Dust Shaped Hearts.” Photographer Donald Camp devised a photographic process that used dust (earth pigment) and light sensitized casein to make portraits of Black American men that would be much more archival than standard photographic materials. Working with the newspaper headshots in mind, Mr. Camp created a body of work that uses dust and milk to speaks of the unity of humanity.