Reflections marks the first solo exhibition by Rahim Fortune, a Texas-born photographer whose work navigates the emotional and cultural landscapes of the American South. Blending documentary practice with personal narrative, Fortune has spent the past decade exploring themes of memory, migration, and identity. This exhibition features two of his most significant series—I Can’t Stand to See You Cry (2021) and Hardtack (2024)—offering a profound look at the people, places, and traditions that shape his artistic vision.
Born in 1994 and a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, Fortune uses photography as a way to question and reinterpret American identity. His lens focuses on the intimate rhythms of family and community life, tracing how histories of displacement and belonging are etched into the landscapes of Texas and the wider South.
His 2021 photobook I Can’t Stand to See You Cry, published by Loose Joints, received international acclaim—shortlisted for the Paris Photo-Aperture Photobook of the Year Award and winner of the Louis Roederer Discovery Award at the Rencontres d’Arles in 2022. His latest monograph, Hardtack (2024), continues to expand his reach, earning a nomination for the 2025 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. Fortune’s photographs are part of esteemed institutional collections, including the High Museum of Art, LUMA Arles, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He is represented by Sasha Wolf Projects in New York.
I Can’t Stand to See You Cry is an evocative portrait of life across Texas and neighboring states, portraying individuals negotiating private grief and public crises during a period marked by environmental disaster and a global pandemic. Deeply autobiographical, the series reflects on a moment of personal transformation for the artist—his move across the country, the passing of a parent, and a shifting sense of self.
In Hardtack, Fortune turns to the aesthetics of vernacular and archival photography to reflect on his community’s relationship with image-making. Rather than documenting historical landmarks, he captures the emotional resonance of place, highlighting the strength and joy that persist in Black Southern life. Central to the series are rites of passage—young bull riders, praise dancers, pageant queens—each one a symbol of resilience, pride, and continuity. Through Fortune’s lens, these cultural expressions are rendered with care and dignity, revealing the creativity and intergenerational knowledge that sustain them.
Together, these two bodies of work chart a nuanced and deeply human portrait of the American South—one shaped by struggle and survival, but also by celebration, memory, and profound connection.

About the Author

Rahim Fortune (b. 1994) is a visual artist and photographer from the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma whose work explores the evolving dimensions of American identity. Through a lens grounded in personal observation and cultural inquiry, Fortune documents the lives of families and communities across Texas and the American South, tracing how migration, displacement, and memory shape both people and place. His photographs often reveal how history is embedded not only in landscapes, but in gestures, rituals, and the quiet moments of everyday life.
Fortune’s acclaimed photobook I Can’t Stand to See You Cry, published by Loose Joints in 2021, earned a nomination for the Paris Photo–Aperture Photobook of the Year and received the Louis Roederer Discovery Award at the Rencontres d’Arles in 2022. His most recent monograph, Hardtack (2024), also published by Loose Joints, has attracted widespread international attention and was shortlisted for the 2025 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize.
Fortune’s work has been exhibited globally and is included in the permanent collections of numerous institutions, including the High Museum of Art (Atlanta), LUMA Arles (France), the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond), the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City), and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Rahim Fortune: Reflections
March 22 – May 24, 2025
Howard Greenberg Gallery – New York – Usa

More info:

https://www.howardgreenberg.com/
https://www.rahimfortune.com/