Lee’s monograph is at once documentary photography and personal visual storytelling. Through intimate black-and-white frames, Father Figure provides insight into often-overlooked aspects of African-descended family life.

The reader gains an intimate view into the daily lives of black men whom Lee has worked with and who are parenting under a variety of circumstances - as married fathers, single fathers, social fathers, young and older, middle class and poorer. Lee brings into focus what pervasive father absence stereotypes have distorted — real fathers who are involved in their children’s lives. Men who may not be perfect but are not media caricatures.

Lee's journey of fatherlessness and identity formation informs his insider perspective. Using his own biography as inspiration, Lee is able to access a complex subject matter with profound vulnerability and compassion, creating a richly woven narrative that is deceptively simple yet multi-dimensional and above all, deeply humanistic.

Read the review by Tom Leininger on photo-eye Blog