Myles Loftin

Myles Loftin has been shocked by the spate of police shootings of young Black men such as Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, and John Crawford. But he’s not surprised.

“For as long as the United States has been a country, Black men have been painted in the media as savages, criminals,” Loftin, BFA Photography ’20, says. “These inaccurate depictions trickle down and become ingrained in the minds of the people who see them.”

Loftin is combating these skewed representations through art. He created HOODED, a series of photographs that contrast sharply with the media’s often menacing portrayals of young men of color. In his photos, Black men are pictured wearing hoodies of different colors — a means of subverting negative associations between the article of clothing and the Black male body.