Sign Language

Vol 1

A few years ago, I came across a photo series by photographer Irving Penn. The photos were of one of my favorite artists, Miles Davis. Penn photographed Davis in 1986 for the cover of his album, “Tutu.” During this photo session, Penn took striking photos of Davis’ hands. Just his hands - one shot of him holding his trumpet, another shot of his palm. I found myself completely captivated by these photos and I had no idea why. I saved the photos to every mood board I had. I stared at the lines in Davis’ hands. While staring at these photos, I thought to myself, I hadn’t been this captivated by a pair of hands since the first time I saw someone throw up gang signs.

I was born and raised in Newark, NJ - quite far away from Compton or Los Angeles. However, I remember gang culture being a big part of my community throughout my childhood. Some time around middle school is when I first saw my cousin twist his fingers up. I asked what he was doing and he replied, “stacking.” It looked like poetry in motion to me. The way his hands made shapes that signified his affiliation intrigued me - this coded language.

I believe there’s something special about the way we communicate - the language we’ve created and the different dialects within it. The way “jawn” takes the place of a person, place, or thing if you’re from Philly, or Pepsi can be referred to as “pop” or “soda” depending on if you’re from the midwest or not - these are forms of cultural communication. I chose to photograph these gang signs because they’re visual examples of cultural communication. They tell a story without words - where you’re from, who you are, what you stand for. I photographed them in the likeness of Irving Penn’s portraits of Miles Davis because I wanted them to scream. The surrounding blackness cuts out all other noise, forcing you to only listen to these signs. You see it and you hear it loud and clear. Where you from?

Sign Language is an ongoing series. If you’re gang affiliated and would like to be photographed throwing up your sign, please email me at charles@thestuyvesant.com. No faces shown. If you’d like to purchase a print from this series, you can click here.