I'm Still Here, 2022

MAYA JUNE MANSOURI’m Still Here, 202224 x 16.5 inchesArchival pigment print on Moab Slickrock Metallic PaperEdition of 2Signed and numbered by the artist  Maya June Mansour is a photographer originally from Nashville, TN with roots in Black America, Palestine, and Iran. Her current project, Light Brown Butterfly, investigates the long-term mental and spiritual impact of sexual assault. Using self-portraiture, Maya depicts her relationship with trauma through the lenses of anger, healing, and religion. I’m Still Here features a small mirror with Mansour’s reflection. Her portrait is almost invisible against the larger interior space, alluding to the ways in which trauma can often be invisible on the outside. “When you have that kind of trauma it becomes a part of you, it informs everything,” Mansour says. “This photograph shows how it’s almost easy to look at a person and not see it—but once you see my face in the mirror, it’s impossible to miss.” Mansour was a part of the most recent c