ROSS TAYLOR

Photo Stories: Growing up in Gary

In the early 1990's I met the Rose family in a rural holler in Gary, West Virginia. The family, led in principle by divorced parents Maxine and James Rose, was comprised of ten children from varying parents. The children spent time fluidly between both households, and learned to live life under the weight of poverty in one of the poorest counties in America. 

For me, this was more of a personal project - it was a huge growth experience early in my adult and professional life.  

The pictures are from my time with the Rose family - with them I learned the beginnings of documentary work, as well discovered my love for intimacy in daily photography. 

  • Maxine and the chilldren pose for a portrait in front of one of their homes. The children often move back and forth between houses of their parents. Maxine is the mother of half the children.
  • Jamie, Amanda and Carlos Rose wait for some of the older children to get home from school.
  • An assembly line of food is usually needed to feed all the children, including Amanda Rose, pictured here.
  • Crystal Rose walks away from her junior high graduation with balloon in hand back to her house. Crystal is the oldest child of the ten.
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  • Amanda sits with one of her cousins and poses for a portrait.
  • Amanda Rose brushes her teeth one morning in the kitchen sink while Clifford Rose is framed in the doorway.
  • Carlos Rose looks outside of the church van the children were taking to a swimming hole one summer day.
  • James Rose watches his son, Donald, take a {quote}dip{quote} of tobacco on their front porch. Most of the boys in the family started using some form of tobacco at an early age.
  • Anthony Rose asked to show his{quote}dip{quote} for a picture to the disgust of his younger brother, Jamie.
  • Like any other siblings, sometimes the children play roughly with each other, although most of the time the children interacted well together. Here Donald and Amanda gang up on Jamie.
  • Amanda plays with Crystal's hair while Tina looks away in frustration since the two were ignoring her.
  • (l-r) Jamie, Amanda and Maxine all play together at a local park. The children don't have many material things but relied instead on time spent together and simple games to entertain each other.
  • Anthony Rose walks down the street of his holler - sometimes with little to do the summer days can be boring for the children.
  • A church member hugs Amanda before services - Carlos is at left. Early in the children's lives church was an important part
  • Maxine Rose talks with Tina about some of Tina's problems - Maxine and Tina have an especially close relationship.
  • Alan plays upstairs in the one of the bedrooms.
  • Maxine and Tina lay down for an afternoon nap on a living room couch.
  • Alan gets ready for {quote}picture day{quote} early one morning before school.
  • Alan antagonizes his sister while playing in Maxine's house - the two were often one of the closer relations of the children.
  • Amanda, Alan and Clifford walk along the railroad track behind their house after collecting some apples from a tree.
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