Towards the beginning of the quarantine, I decided to give my mind, my body, and my camera a rest. Like many others, I was stressed and experiencing high levels of anxiety. After giving myself some time to reset, I decided to undertake Signs of the Times as a way to explore the world in a way that felt safest at the time. While out on my walks, I began to notice that though we were all missing human connection, there were signs all around, taking up that mantle and communicating the feelings of our communities with us. Through signage and text, our shared and varied conditions alike were being put on display. Sometimes, signs seemed to even be communicating with one another, left behind for us to bear witness to their musings. Here are three images from that project.
Born and raised in the historic east side of Austin, TX, Cindy Elizabeth began exploring photography in her teens, as a means to document and archive her time spent with family and friends. Pushing aside her passion to pursue a corporate career, Elizabeth rediscovered her desire to document the world around her after graduating from Baylor University in 2010. As a result, Elizabeth began working with local organizations to document the stories of marginalized communities, and bring light to the impact of gentrification on her own community. Utilizing the mediums of photography, film, and mixed media, Elizabeth found photography to be a tool to explore concepts of culture, history, and symbolism. Her work strives to bring visibility to Black joy, community, and perseverance in the face of hardship.
Elizabeth’s work has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Insider, Texas Tribune, and GQ Magazine among other outlets. Select clients include Google, Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), Speak Out, Dining Out For Life, Subaru Loves to Care, and AARP. Her work has been exhibited at The George Washington Carver Museum, ICOSA Gallery, Women and Their Work Gallery, and the University of Texas at Austin.
When she is not making photographs, Elizabeth can be found vibing out to her favorite Old School tracks while planting flowers on Animal Crossing.
