Mark Laita: Created Equal

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The video also highlighted how the Whittakers' were struggling to make ends meet in their small house with their several dogs. Putting that grand message aside, however, it’s also simply fun to imagine some of these people meeting.

Laita states: "At the heart of this collection of portraits is my desire to remind us that we are all equal, until our environment, circumstances or fate molds us and weathers us into whom we become. It is a place of palpable diversity where anything can happen, and polar opposites live on the same street", it is a remarkably nondiverse collection.When you look at a motorcycle gang next to a group of altar boys, ora Baptist pastor across from members of the KKK,that argument may get murky. Laita, on the other hand, shows us what he has seen without making distinctions between class, he recreates them as equal and lets us decide if his analogies are legitimate or not at the same time as narrating a story to us that, although dramatic, doesn’t stop being what it is: the story of a town that is absolutely divided.

Created Equal is a powerful presentation that is not only visually appealing but also sheds light on notions of identity, class and lifestyle. The family came into the limelight when Mark Laita photographed them for his book Created Equal in 2004. The GoFundMe campaign is still on as Laita is trying to raise funds for a new house for the inbred Appalachian family. Eventually I would meet a mailman, a cop, or some local who would lead me to someone worth photographing. The photographer is skilled, shooting such quick photos and developing large plates is difficult, and Laita does great work.

Ray was uncontrollable, he would stand right next to my camera, like right next to it, two inches away from the lens, I said [sic] I needed him to stand with his brothers, and then as soon as I corrected him, he would just flip out and start [sic] screaming, running off.