In January 2020 I visited a group of Buddhist monastics in Batesville, Mississippi. I was interested in the experience of the monks — most of whom came from Vietnam — in the Deep South, a region that is associated with Christianity and a Black-white racial dynamic. As a fledgling photographer, this was one of my first experiences documenting a community over the course of several days.
The pandemic, and then a staff job at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, put a halt to the project, but I plan to return in the years to come.
