Myles Loftin is a 19-year-old artist with heart and a yearning to see himself represented in media as a young black man who is not a thug, dangerous or gangster. He smiles. He makes jokes. He wears hoodies.
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So he created HOODED, a photo and video project that features young black men in colorful hoodies. Loftin told The Root: “People assume that you see a black man wearing a hoodie and all of a sudden, he’s a suspect or he’s a target. When most of the time, they’re just people who are trying to get home to their families or just walking down the street minding their business. It’s turned into something negative when it’s just literally an article of clothing.”
There are so many more black men in the world who are just like Loftin, but they rarely get to see reflections of themselves as themselves: carefree, happy, laughing and living.
Check out HOODED, a bold attempt to shift the perspective on black men.
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