STEALING
time on the porch
the porch is geographic embodiment of black time being stolen back.
Porch Portraits (1974) series, Susan Meiselas
the black south thrives on the porches of mama + ‘em. on their own time, they weave networks with gossip and leisure. it is their place to steal back time from the captivity and confinement of empire. The Porch is a place where a possibility freedom is realized, lived, and experienced, even if that moment is fleeting. The fugitive frequents porches to learn how to steal and contemplate freedom.
Front porch of two-family tobacco tenant house, 1964, Paul Kwilechi
![African-American children on porch of shack. Federal Writers' Project (S.C.), [Charleston, S.C.: Houses], South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a43ff57ccc5c504cd257d41/1595479443980-X653IJLPV4UYGHDWIG9D/image+2.jpg)
African-American children on porch of shack.
Federal Writers' Project (S.C.), [Charleston, S.C.: Houses], South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina.
New Orleans, Louisiana, 1968, Alex Abbas
"The sun was gone...It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long...But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths." They sat in judgment."
--Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Family assembled on front porch, 1971, Paul Kwilecki