Warning Signs
Every year UNC Chapel Hill holds a summer class where a group of students travels to an area of North Carolina, and each student gets the opportunity to produce a short-form documentary over the course of a week. In May of 2024 the Carolina Photojournalism Workshop (CPJW) travelled to the Lake Norman area.
I chose to focus on Lori, an infamous activist in the Mooresville area. Lori spends her days making and putting up signs as well as protesting to raise awareness about coal ash in the area. A coal burning plant has been producing the byproduct since the 60’s and allegedly been spreading the substance in the area. With disproportionally high cancer rates in town, Lori believes the coal ash is getting Mooresville sick.
In the fall semester of 2024, I had the opportunity to take an Advanced Documentary Storytelling class at UNC. For my final project I covered Bessie Elmore, an activist and mother from Durham, NC.