These photos by Luis Burgos appeared in the spring 2023 issue of Fragments, the new magazine from Emor.
Marching images frame “The Story of Exodus 5782.” This is at the heart of Moses in the City, a modern day Passover haggadah. Here, Liberation is explored.
With the lenses of Anti-Racism, Feminism, and Pride, I tell a story with original photographs, poems, and my personal record of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020-21.
The seder and its haggadah is a call to action. The Promised Land and The Narrow Place are the same. It is only through Tikkun Olam, actions of repair, that we transform our Oppression into Liberation.
Promising actions bring Freedom; intentions are irrelevant against Impact.
I say, Act Up.
Luis Roberto Burgos is a Black, Queer, Jewish, Neurodiverse Earthling based on Lenape land, colonially known as New York City. Born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and raised between three boroughs, Luis lived in Los Angeles from 2013 to 2018. He learned how to question at Phillips Exeter Academy and how not to question at Bard College. His photography is often based in literature, while his writing is visual and sensory. In 2022, NY Jewish Week named him one of the “36 to Watch” (formerly 36 under 36). That same year, he debuted his first photobook, Moses of the City, which received a stellar review from The Forward. Louiefromtheblock is currently a fellow with The Workshop, which is Art Directed by Rabbi Kendell Pinkney and in partnership with Reboot.
