Mapping the Geography of Poverty with @mattblack_blackmatt in California’s Central Valley

To see more scenes from the California Central Valley and learn more about The Geography of Poverty project, follow @mattblack_blackmatt on Instagram.

Photojournalist Matt Black (@mattblack_blackmatt) shares stark black and white images from the farmlands of California’s rural Central Valley, where he was born and raised.

“It just hasn’t seemed right for me to go to some far-flung place when there are so many stories and important things to do right around me,” he explains.

To convey the impact of years of drought and economic hardship, Matt launched the Geography of Poverty project on Instagram, where he weaves together a landscape of photos, census data and map coordinates.

“I’m trying to portray a certain environment, to build a world,” he continues. “The goal of the project is to quite literally put places on the map.”

As one of the founding members of EverydayUSA (@everydayusa), he now joins a dozen photographers who collaborate to share stories of life across the country. “Everyone is pursuing their own distinct thing,” says Matt, “but together the work is making a different sort of statement.”