Liberate is a digital photography project crafted in Oxford, Mississippi by Reed Jones featuring Sam Hendrix.

The process of liberation starts with potential and our realization of that potential and is birthed by the work of our own hands, exhaustion, and rest. Once you take the necessary steps of realizing the dormant potential for liberation and put in the work with your own hands, we’re often led to this frustrating “cocooned” phase where we are forced to rest. We’re forced to rest as the work we’ve done leads to transformation.

This transformation and eventual liberation can be on a personal or societal level, freeing an individual from gender norms, familial expectations, societal constructs, or freeing a people from its oppressor. Whether personal or on a broader level, liberation is important in that each individual can live their lives free to make their own choices without judgment. We are able to transform into our own uniquely beautiful selves, like that of a butterfly. This opens up space to love one another on a more profound level.