Royal Blue

The Essence of Innocence

2019 — Ongoing
Silver Gelatin Prints

Price dives deep into the commentary around the importance of preserving the innocence of black boys in America.

In 2015, Price had a dream of four black boys with royal blue eyes. The young boys rose out of the ground of a historic black community in Washington, DC. Price recollects the boys spoke in an unfamiliar language, gifting her a camera and then returning to the ground. She later realized that her dream of the “blue-eyed black boys” was a divine assignment to pick up her camera and visually explore adolescence and the black boy experience in Washington, DC. She uses the camera to highlight the young boys innocence, dignity, plight against stereotypes, and longing for solutions.

Royal Blue: The Essence of Innocence, follows the story of 11-year-old Karon Brown's murder in Washington, DC, and its ramifications on his close family and friends. Price began documenting the boys in July 2019 when they were 13; She revisits the now 16-year-old boys in 2022 to see how they are coping after losing a brother and friend.

This work follows the subjects through their strength, grief, triumph, and navigation within their current environment.

Through visual storytelling, Beverly Price takes us on a journey of friendship, loss, and growth.