Someday I’ll Find the Sun by John-David Richardson

I am a product of poverty. The atmosphere of my upbringing prepared me for a world where economic and social worth is defined by class. My parents separated when my sister and I were young, and my mom raised us along with her numerous abusive male partners in a trailer on the outskirts of town. These men would come and go, each one exhibiting more violent and destructive behavior than the one before.

Our family fought to make ends meet, but their efforts constantly fell short due to drug and alcohol addiction, domestic violence, and a lack of education. I watched my mom struggle with trying to find and hold a job without having a formal education beyond grade school, bouncing disability check to disability check all to realize that she would have to choose between paying the overdue electricity bill and keeping food on the table. Being surrounded by such a traumatic environment at an early age dramatically shaped my worldview, and I came to understand family as a collision of love and hate.

Someday I’ll Find the Sun functions as a poetic reflection of my personal experiences growing up in the cycle of poverty. I seek to understand my family’s troubled history by building relationships with people that mirror members of my family, finding people that are simultaneously callous and tender. Using photography, I hope to generate a conversation about the class divide that consumes our country, and the people affected by a system constructed to serve those in power

John-David Richardson lives and works in Cincinnati, Ohio.
To view more of John-David’s work, please visit his website.