Praisesongs and Clotheslines

Written By Bruce Morrow

“Praisesongs and Clotheslines”, Photograph, Giclee archival print, 16×20in, 2024

“Makoko, a nineteenth-century fishing village, is a low-income community in Lagos, [Nigeria] built partly over a lagoon. It’s estimated that more than 85,000 people live in Makoko. Up to twenty people may live in a single wooden house, sharing responsibilities for cooking, cleaning, and childcare.

In this photograph, a woman sits with laundry hanging behind her, talking with passersby on a Sunday morning. The image captures daily life shaped by community, labor, and resilience, reflecting my interest in diasporic spaces and personal sovereignty: the ability to claim authority over one’s body, identity, narrative, and vision.”

—Bruce Morrow

Bruce Morrow

Bruce Morrow (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores memory, nature, and lived experiences across photography, film, and literary forms. His photographs have been exhibited in group exhibitions at Flushing Town Hall, Judson Church, Local Project, the NYC LGBT Center, and Monad Gallery, and published in Killens Review of Arts & Letters (Spring 2026). A former fiction editor of Callaloo and co-editor of the Black gay anthology Shade, Morrow has participated in residencies at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Ragdale Foundation, and Kimbilio Writers Retreat. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from RIT and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. He lives in New York City.

https://www.brucemorrow.me/
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