The Healing of a Community in Crisis
This exhibit (part of the permanent collection at Humanities Texas) explores the impact of the racially motivated murder of James Byrd on that community. Ricardo Ainslie created, wrote, and produced Jasper, Texas: The healing of a community in crisis, a traveling photographic exhibit (New York City, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Galveston) for which he enlisted the collaboration of photographer Sarah Wilson. Each exhibit opening (the exhibit book won the 2003 Digital News Award for Best Project -photography, text, design) was conceived as an event in which audiences learned the lessons of Jasper as conveyed by some of the Jasper residents who were widely credited with keeping the peace in the tense aftermath of the murder.