Front Yard is as much a metaphor as it is a space. To see a house in this regard is to visualize the connection between people's spirits and their fears, their silences, and their love; it’s a testimony to their trials and tribulations.

I am acutely aware of the problematic one-sided gaze that has come to define documentary photography. This series 'Front Yard' uses collaboration as an equity mechanism and offers a more in-depth conversation of the perceived realities. Making black and white prints, I invite families to color or embellish them however they like and show us how they want it to be seen.

Made in different socio-economic groups all over the SF Bay Area, each family brings a unique perspective to their portraits. One family used thumbprints to make balloons with Tamil text that translates to, “Everything one needs to learn is learned within the family with unconditional love for each other.” In another instance, a family used flowers to illustrate Urdu text that reads “Abhi na chhed mohabbat ke geet ai mutrib, abhi hayaat ka mahaul ḳhush-gavaar nahin.” (Do not sing of me of love, in times of such unpleasantness.)

The tactility of this exchange is not the only unexpected gift, I am also surprised by how willing people are to have more in-depth conversations. This project helped me understand the realities of my communities and see how easily we could break barriers of judgment by opening our worlds to each other. While humanity is fighting wars and diseases -- with isolation and distrust, perhaps the antidote is in the collaborative sowing of seeds that represent, affirm, and bind us all.

Ashima Yadava was born in New Delhi and lives in San Francisco where she works as a conceptual documentary photographer, independent curator and printmaker. With the camera as a conduit, she works on long-form stories which focus on issues of gender equity and racial justice, approaching art as a means to social activism and reform.

Her work has been exhibited around the world including at the deYoung Museum, the United Nations New York, Rotterdam Photo Festival, RISD, ICP, Technische Museum, Dresden and Camera Torino among others. And features in publications including NPR, National Geographic, Mother Jones, SChronicle, to name a few.

An alumna of International Center of Photography, New York, she is currently a California Arts Council Fellow, the Director of Community at Authority Collective where she helps build community and sits on the Board of SCamerawork as their Programming Chair.

Ashima is the founder of Huq: | Seek No Favor which brings together over 100 artists and thinkers to respond to the abortion ban.