"Where is this going?..." [1 of 2 in the Redbull House of Art series]

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I started this project way back when because I wanted to share with the rest of the world what I loved about my hometown and its people. That said, I never intended it to be a platform for blind boosterism. If I encounter something that displeases me in my everyday life as a Detroiter – in my everyday life as an sentient being – that displeasure will more likely than not seep into a TPOD post.

That said, the past couple of posts have been admittedly heavy.  In "Why Midtown is Better than Royal Oak" an incident at a suburban Starbucks led to a discussion of how social equity is affected for better or worse by the demographics of a place.

In "Dezey and the World of Tomorrow" we discussed how disproportionate religiosity in the black community leads to disproportionately high homophobia in the black community.

Fun times.

So, in the interest of balance, I figured it was time to revisit the purpose that truly drives The People of Detroit: an excuse to take pictures of pretty girls.

An opportunity presented itself at the grand opening of a phenomenal new art space in Detroit: The Redbull House of Art. I saw the young woman above accompanied by an attractive, remarkably similar looking, slightly older woman. I asked the young woman to take her photograph. The attractive, remarkably similar looking, slightly older awoman immediately interceded:

"Where is this going?"

Before I share my answer, I should probably share an update on the Dezey essay.  In the essay, I referenced a 2010 Pew Research Center poll that showed only 30 percent of black Americans approved of gay marriage. Three days after I published the Dezey essay, Pew released a mid-April 2012 poll that showed black American support for gay marriage had  increased to 39 percent.

Coincidence? I think not.

So, "where is it going" – attractive, remarkably similar looking, slightly older woman?  It's going on the website that singlehandedly stopped homophobia in the black community, that's where.

 - Noah -

Noah Stephens  founded The People of Detroit Photodocumentary in April 2010 as a counterpoint to media fixated on despair and disrepair in the storied birthplace of American auto manufacturing. Since, TPOD has received national and international attention. Portraits from the project have appeared in Bloomberg BusinessWeek and other national publications. 


In early 2011, a creative director saw the project online and hired Noah to shoot an ad campaign for McDonald's Corporation in Shanghai, China. 

The People of Detroit Photodocumentary is funded in part by a grant from CEOS for Cities and the John S. And James L. Knight Foundation.