Memphis, Tennessee (November 2017)
I Am Free
After a day downtown, I wanted to see what the rest of the city had to say. So I widened the circle and spent a day in Midtown, Soulsville, and North Memphis.
Memphis talks through its walls. Murals covered entire buildings, painted garage doors turned alleys into galleries, and long stretches of graffiti stood alongside old neon signs and the brick landmarks where the city’s music was born. In Soulsville, the neighborhood wears its history proudly. One wall I found in North Memphis summed up the spirit of the whole day in three words: I Am Free.
The farther I got from downtown, the more personal the city became. These were not the places visitors come to see. They were the places Memphis keeps for itself, and they were starting to feel like mine too.
