A Black Girl’s Magic at Crown Fountain

Crown Fountain | Millennium Park, Chicago
Photographed c.2014

Five fearless Black girls, one of which is my daughter.

Brown Ballerinas and classically trained anomalies of whom I’d been making photographs in the streets and along railroad tracks and in front of murals for the better part of the day and who after arriving at Millennium Park asked if they could remove their tights and shoes and try making jumps in the water at Crown Fountain to which I answered “absolutely not!” because all I could imagine were broken bones and fractured skulls and realized that they were already removing their tights and shoes and that I might as well remove my shoes, I wasn’t wearing tights, and join them in the water along with two dear friends who I’ve named “the Flash Girls” because they were kind enough to carry my wireless strobes which allowed me to prepare for a moment that I had no idea would freeze all time and space… brought to you by a Ballerina named Imani.

Focus.