Jared Soares: Hip Hop Roanoke

Exhibition Website

Jul 29 2017 - Feb 25 2018

In 2008, Jared Soares began photographing the Hip Hop music scene in Roanoke, Virginia. DIY CDs in corner stores provided Soares with contact information of local musicians, who initially regarded him with suspicion. He was slowly invited into the everyday lives of these artists, some with dreams of hitting it big, some grinding away in their free hours for sheer love of the craft. Taking candid shots in musicians’ self-built studios and local venues, Soares documented the artists at work, while capturing the quiet moments in between performances and dance parties. In the exhibition Hip Hop Roanoke, Soares reunites with the community he still holds dear, revisiting the musicians he now knows as friends and whose musical evolution mirrors Soares’s own artistic journey.

Jared Soares is a photojournalist living in Washington, D.C. with a special interest in documenting community and identity in America. Beginning his career as a photographer at the Roanoke Times, he collaborated on a series of articles with Beth Macy on what would become her bestselling book “Factory Man”, now slated to be an HBO miniseries. Soares has worked with editorial clients such as AARP, Bloomberg Businessweek, DuJour, Fast Company, Monocle, Smithsonian and WIRED among others. Additionally, he collaborates with brands such as Microsoft, NIKE, VSCO, VICE, New York Times and Whole Foods Market. His prints and artist books are held in the permanent collections of the Portland Art Museum, Sloane Art Library at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

  • Photography
  • American
  • Contemporary
  • Culture / Lifestyle
  • Jared Soares

Exhibition Venues & Dates