Sheep Hill is a historic, primarily African-American neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia that has been struggling with inner-city issues such as poverty, drugs and homelessness. Lately, familiar faces have been moving out and new faces moving in, causing anxiety among longtime residents. They want a sense of security and belonging, and a platform on which to voice concerns and share ideas about how to overcome obstacles. This book was intended to be a resource for Sheep Hill residents, providing a history of their community, introducing neighbors to each other and highlighting contributions that have inspired positive change. It has also been used by government officials and urban planners, who were renovating and restructuring the neighborhood, to learn residents’ needs and make decisions.
The process of creating this community picture book was ever-evolving, with one neighbor referring me to the next and on down the line. I documented this lineage as their “community tree.” The page size was dictated by the size of the Polaroids I took of each person, with their names, dates, contributions and other information recorded on the back. I’ve included these artifacts in the book as well as additional photographs that demonstrate the character of Sheep Hill.

“A well-crafted, very personal view of a community and its people, captured in Polaroids, notations and the subjects’ personal photos. Intimate scale helps convey the one-on-one feel of the book.”