The backstory of this self-portrait is called "Release".  

It comes in many forms. I started a journey of discovery 16 years ago two weeks after HS graduation. The goal was simple: play Division 1 basketball at all costs. After not making the team, I got a second chance to walk on. I was that hyped guy on the end of the bench cheering my team on because despite only playing 2 games in 2 years, I was living my dream. Sophomore year I had an accident in practice that left me without a front tooth. A tooth that would end up being a series of surgeries, removals, and reapplications until I was just over it. I felt so much shame from being that walk-on who was so eager to get better he picked up full court and got his tooth knocked out. So much shame that all the scars = no game experience that I took a break from the world to find my voice. At first, it was fashion, then sneakers, and finally photography and the moving image. Photography stuck but after switching to school online (which in the early 2010s was jail to the Africans) I couldn't balance the two and decided I would focus on work. Fast forward, I’m 33, in my career and still feel the burden of things unfinished. So I reapplied to school and picked up where I left off. It didn't occur to me how much of a release closing that chapter would be. So as reach that final lap I release shame from not graduating on time, my missing tooth, my detours, and mistakes, holding on to shame, and what-if scenarios. I set put to create a self-portrait and came home with a release.