On my Bookshelf | Phyllis B. Dooney – Gravity Is Stronger Here

On my Bookshelf

In this column, I occasionally present a photo book that is close to my heart. It is not – or not necessarily – a new publication. It is simply a book that somehow fell into my hands and that I would like to recommend to others. And yes – of course it’s on my bookshelf.

It’s a bit of a continuation of my Photo book of the month column – just not necessarily as regular as before. And I’ve generally made the column a bit shorter and tighter. I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Prologue

In February, I can kill two birds with one stone (does one still say that in today’s world? Anyway…): on the one hand, I can introduce a rather contemporary artist, as promised. And on the other hand, I have wanted to present this book for a long time, which I have had for several years, and which has really impressed me.

It is about the truly wonderful book ‘Gravity Is Stronger Here’ by Phyllis B. Dooney. And the cherry on the cake: unlike some of the books I have already presented, this one is still available and affordable.

About the Photographer |

Phyllis B. Dooney is an American photographer specialising in documentaries and visual storytelling. She is a founder and director of PHOTO FARM in Chapel Hill, NC, and a member of Inland Stories. Unfortunately, I don’t know very much more about the photographer. Phyllis lives in North Carolina and is an instructor at Duke University and UNC. Her work and projects have already received numerous awards and been exhibited many times. Her first – and as far as I know – only book to date is the one discussed here, ‘Gravity IS Stronger Here’.

Looking at her past and current projects, Dooney particularly focuses on community and family issues – but I don’t know if you can summarise it that simply. However, the quote on her website also goes in this direction.

I photograph family; because family tells secrets about the country.

Phyllis B. Dooney

About the Photo Book |

Phyllis B. Dooney, who describes herself as a ‘Yankee of the North’, wanted to gain a better understanding of her own country – and set off with her camera to the southern United States. She ended up in Greenville, Mississippi. What began as a ‘study’ of the South became an intimate and impressive portrait – especially of one family.

While looking for something to eat, Dooney stopped at the karaoke bar ‘Spectators’ in Greenville and saw 18-year-old Halea Brown rapping to a song by Eminem. The young woman’s performance and presence apparently stayed with her. She followed Halea and her girlfriend – Halea is a lesbian – out of the bar and boldly asked her if she could portray her. This then became a five-year project, during which Dooney visited Greenville, Halea and her family a total of 12 times between 2011 and 2016, sometimes for extended periods, and took photographs and filmed, among other things. 

The result is a complex, emotional, intimate and very powerful portrait of society – where the Brown family is both personal and somehow representative of many other people and families in rural America. The images from the project are accompanied by poems by the writer Jardine Libaire. These are based on her own observations – she accompanied Dooney on occasion – as well as on interview transcripts of Dooney.

The book ‘Gravity Is Stronger Here’ contains 119 photographs on 200 pages and was published by Kehrer in 2017. But it could not be more relevant in 2025 either…

What I like about it

I’ll be brief this time and let a few pictures speak for themselves later. But I would still like to emphasise two things that really inspire me about this book. There are two things that Dooney ‘uncovers’ here and then somehow makes disappear again through this book.

Our expectations and prejudices

Of course, this book is about the cultural differences in the USA – primarily between the South and the North of the country. Or between the coasts and the heartland – whatever. As a child of the North, Dooney deliberately travelled to the South in order to understand it better. And she probably already had certain images in her head – prejudiced images. We all find it hard to resist them. Such images arise very quickly – and unfortunately are very slow to disappear. 

An unexpectedly different reality

And then you arrive somewhere, maybe stay longer. Keeps coming back. Talk to people, listen to them, see and understand how they live, how they think, how they feel. And suddenly it’s not all that simple anymore. Prejudices are revealed for what they are – namely PREjudices. Things turn out to be quite different from what you might have expected and imagined. More complex. More differentiated. More human.

I felt I needed to know more about the American South in order to have a more complete picture of this complex nation that I call home

Phyllis B. Dooney

All this is shown in the project and the book by Phyllis B. Dooney in a wonderful and sensitive way.

And it doesn’t really matter whether this documentary is set in the USA. Or a few years ago. The issue is also there in Europe and in Germany, where I live. It’s too often ‘us’ and ‘them’. Lack of understanding, lack of communication, lack of tolerance – it all seems to be on the rise more and more. Photography can be a wonderful tool to make us aware of this. And to hold up a mirror and correct the image of ‘the others’. Let’s just get involved…