For many, the word ‘orphanage’ may conjure up thoughts of a place where children are warehoused, neglected, abused, and deprived of stimulation or love. This project, about the United Methodist Children’s Home, in Decatur, Georgia, reveals a different story, a vibrant community where traumatized children found security, love, and an extended family.  

In 2017, the United Methodist Children’s Home decided to sell their property. I knew that I wanted to preserve the stories of those who had been intimately connected with the Home as well as document what was left behind, before anything changed. Interviews were conducted with 16 individuals who had been former residents as children, volunteers, or employees. In addition to photographing the landscape and buildings after they were vacated, I created portraits of the interviewees on campus in locations that were meaningful to them.

As I reviewed transcripts from their interviews, I was moved by the stories that brought to light a place where broken spirits were given the space to heal, and where children ultimately found a path to self-worth. In this body of work I extracted vignettes from the shared stories and interspersed them with images I captured at the Children’s Home and archival images from the Pitts Theology Library at Emory University. My intention is two-fold: to ensure that the stories continue to have a life beyond the borders of the former United Methodist Children’s Home property, and to create a visual and historical context for those stories.

An exhibit, of the oral history portion of this project, is on display at the DeKalb History Center in Decatur, Georgia,  through 2024.