Artist Statement
An emotional investment in the people that I am photographing is paramount. I realized this type of relationship was crucial when I worked on a project about hip hop culture and it’s influence on African American males in Roanoke, a city in Southwestern Virginia. I spent 2 years with aspiring rappers and their families with the goal of producing a story that would help people outside this community to better understand the reach of hip hop culture in urban environments.
Jared Soares is an independent documentary photographer based in Washington, D.C.. He divides his time between client commissions and self-initiated projects that explore the relationship between community and identity.
In 2012 he was awarded grants from the Puffin Foundation and the National Press Photographers Association to begin work on a project about disappearing mining communities in Western Pennsylvania.
From 2006-2010 he worked as a staff photojournalist at The Roanoke (Va.) Times. His work there was honored by the National Press Photographers Association’s Best of Photojournalism, Virginia Press Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. He has also worked as an assistant in the Paris, France, office of VII Photo Agency.
His project, Small-Town Hip hop in Virginia, was exhibited as a solo show during Look3 Festival of the Photograph at The Bridge PAI in Charlottesville, Virginia, for the month of June 2012. It has also been shown at the O. Winston Link Museum, Roanoke, Virginia, as a solo show in fall 2009, and at the Fotografia Festival Roma, Italy, as a group show in September 2010.
Some of his clients include AARP Bulletin, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Marguerite Casey Foundation, Inc., Wired.com, Country Living, Getty Images, and Discovery.
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