Stolen Hours Update

Written By Terrell Lamar Green

I have learned first-hand why it takes artists years sometimes to complete a project—a battle against self-perceived perfection. But because Stolen Hours is my first photo book and exhibit, I’m super particular about having it just right.

Initially, I was going to have a collection where half of the collection was in color and the other half in black & white. I’ve decided now to make the entire collection black & white. I have an inexplicable love for black & white photography. That doesn’t mean that on future projects I will work exclusively in black & white. I just want to do Stolen Hours in black & white, for I think it gives the images a more powerful visual impact.

It’s been over a year and a half since I began work on the project. I had made around 18 pictures: 9 in color and 9 in black & white. After a few months, I looked at them and decided to scrap 10 of the photographs and reshoot them in a different way.

Additionally, I welcomed a baby girl in September 2024 and I’m welcoming a baby boy June 2026. Not to mention my 9 to 5. I’ve been hella busy, still the work must be done.

Nonetheless I’m super excited about the ideas and concepts—all which combine to express the essence of the project: Black spirituality in Black culture. The biggest thing to get right is how the images convey and evoke particular aspects of Black spirituality. I feel a responsibility to my ancestors and my mother to do a wonderful job.

Black spirituality being a phenomenon of intangible forces urges me to be extremely creative with depictions of the emotions, rituals, and one’s relationship with the Divine.

It’s coming together. I’m working toward a Summer 2027 deadline with my exhibit aimed for Fall 2027. Let’s work.

Terrell Lamar Green

What is a Terrell Lamar picture? A Terrell Lamar image is about storytelling, intent, also angles, composition and layers, lightscapes, the minutiae, but ultimately, a picture made by me carries the essence of the subjects. My pictures evoke, at least I hope they do, a visual conversation, something compelling enough and simple enough that one looks at it and without knowing is captivated, and there you have it—a Terrell Lamar piece.

I hope that my brand of photography is seen as a carrier of the essence of the true and living encounter with the work of art in which a picture I make depicts. Simply put: I want my work to be seen as more than a commodity, more than something that has reproducibility. I want my pieces to engender a curiosity about the possibilities of how to read a language of art, in this case - visual art.

The process I follow of making a picture is really a study of phenomenology. It's an effort to convey the true and living experience of the human from his or her own first-hand knowing. I harbor a great affinity for Black culture, its values, interests, and principles; its customs, folklore, and rituals. The richness and depth of Black life is, in and of itself, a phenomenon.

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My First Children’s Book