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‘The Story of Us’

Photojournalist Eze Amos took thousands of pictures as he navigated the violence and mayhem in downtown Charlottesville on August 12, 2017. Many of his most dramatic images were published in media outlets around the world, but he couldn’t bring himself to look at most of them for years.

But “I realized that I’ve been traumatized by this myself, so I wasn’t even ready to show anything for the first two or three years,” Amos says. 

This past spring, as the five-year anniversary of the Summer of Hate loomed, Amos revisited his photo files, and the concept for “The Story of Us: Reclaiming the Narrative of #Charlottesville Through Storytelling and Portraits of Resilience” began to take shape.

“Initially this idea was to just put out photos of August 11 and 12, like photos of, you know, people on the streets and all of that carnage. But I started thinking also like, what am I doing? This will retraumatize everybody, even myself,” says Amos. “And then I started trying to come up with ways to tell the story of August 11 and 12, but in a way that would help us as a community and not actually damage our reputation.”

It was one particular image that provided Amos with his initial inspiration. A photo of a woman offering aid to two young people who’d been struck in the fatal car attack at the corner of Fourth and Water streets.

“There was so much in her face. She was worried and terrified as well. And she was trying to see how she could help this kid. And all of that in her face made me go, ‘Wow, I want to know her story,’” Amos says. 

He was inspired to pore over the remainder of his photos looking for images of Charlottes­ville community members who could tell their own stories of that day.

“That was how the idea of ‘The Story of Us’ came about,” he says. “The idea of us reclaiming our narrative, reclaiming our story and telling it in our own way.” 

The result of his inspiration is approximately 30 massive photos of Charlottesville-area residents that will hang from the trees along the Downtown Mall from August 11 to September 29. Each will be accompanied by an audio narrative of the subject telling their own story, which will be accessible by scanning a QR code with a smartphone.

In June, Charlottesville City Council agreed to accept the donation of Amos’ temporary memorial. In just one month, Amos says, he raised the full $75,000 budget through donations large and small.

“That speaks to the community’s support,” he says. “People gave 20 bucks, 50 bucks, 100 dollars, a thousand dollars. People came out and told us that they’re in support of this project, and they want to see it happen.”

Amos hopes the photos and narratives in “The Story of Us” will help the community continue to heal.

“My hope is that this project will get more people to tell their stories,” he says. “I feel that a lot of people just have been holding the things inside, and I feel just talking about your experience and talking about what you saw would maybe help you to start the process of healing and moving on.”

He also wants the project to send a message to the world at large, one that counters the narrative about the city that’s been spread since images of hate proliferated with the Charlottesville hashtag. 

“I’m hoping that this would help … show the rest of the world that Charlottesville is doing great, you know. That the kids are all right … that we’re a beautiful community … and we’re here to support each other.”

August 17, 2017, at 9:50pm. Andrea talks about the Take Back the Lawn candlelight vigil on University of Virginia Grounds. “This is what our community looks like!”
September 9, 2017 at 8:01pm. She kept the candles lit. “This is what our community looks like!”
August 13, 2017, at 7:32pm. Thousands gathered for a candlelight vigil on Fourth Street. We came to bear witness and reclaim our street a day after the Unite the Right car attack. “This is what our community looks like!”
August 13, 2017, at 3:23pm. Alison tells the story of how she held hands with other community members and formed a circle around the spot of the car attack. “This is what our community looks like!”

Courteney Stuart is the host of Charlottesville Right Now on WINA. You can hear an interview with Eze Amos at wina.com