Wireless

GODFREY AT LARGE

This song is an act of freedom. As a Black Man in America everyday of my life can feel like a protest; a demonstration of my right to exist both joyfully and unencumbered by the expectations of others. It took me a long time to accept that kind of scrutiny, but eventually I learned to dance with it, laugh at it, and ultimately be FREE OF IT!! On this Juneteenth, I’ve decided to release “WIRELESS,” a tribute in honor of both the lives that been killed by the hands of violence and the voices that are crying out for equality!!! #BLM
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Daniel N. Johnson

Sometimes an image arrives to you as a photographer and you know it doesn’t belong to you - even if you happen to have pressed the shutter button to capture it. Such was the case with this photo of the magnificent ascension of @maceopaisley and I’m so honored that it is now accompanying the release of the single WIRELESS by @godfreyatlarge today on Freedom Day, Juneteenth. The day when, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the last black slaves were finally freed in Texas. A true independence day for all Americans. The aspiration for which we are still demanding equality for Black Lives. Screaming, shouting, and crying that they Matter, they matter. They matter. Celebrating and amplifying Black Lives and not just circulating images of Black Deaths. Working towards dismantling the systemic racism of White Supremacy and fighting for social justice and systemic change.

Godfrey at Large reached out to me a year ago after seeing this image of @maceopaisley. I’ve never had someone so eloquently and enthusiastically tell me how much of an image meant and signified to them - and how it was such a vital visual expression of the song he’d written: Wireless. And how desperately he wanted to give the world an image of a Black Man flying, rather than dying.

This is an image of protest. But it's mostly an image of celebration, of freedom. This image doesn't belong to me. It belongs to him, it belongs to you, and it belongs to us. Yet it still tells us there's work to do. One of the core goals of my art is to play and challenge perceptions to remind us of our shared humanity. May this image and Godfrey At Large’s song be part of the larger symphony proclaiming human freedom, and right now specifically, Black freedom. .
Black. Lives. Matter.

Thank you @godfreyatlarge and @maceopaisley for such a poetic synchronization of our respective arts.