Family Matters
Stylist Yashua Simmons and photographer Emmanuel Sanchez-Monsalve capture groups of relatives contemplating ideas of the classic Black American family.
This story appears in Justsmile Issue 7, What We Carry Forward.
Photography Emmanuel Sanchez-Monsalve
Styling Yashua Simmons
Text Morgan Becker
Eyoel (left) wears coat, shirt and pants LORO PIANA. Theodore (center) wears coat, shirt, hat and tie LORO PIANA. Ezekias (right) wears coat, jacket, shirt, pants and tie LORO PIANA.
Yashua Simmons is a storyteller first—photographer, stylist, whatever else following that. “I think it’s just my language,” he says. “A lot of the reason why I got into picture-making was [for that] bit of a mirror, having experienced images that make me see myself or my brother or my sister. My cousin, my aunt, my dad.”
This portfolio, a collaboration with photographer Emmanuel Sanchez-Monsalve, Simmons shot at home in LA. The props—a sofa, a dining set, a rug—they lugged out to his yard; the subjects, all groups of relatives, are a mix of models and friends. Conceptually, it goes back to that initial drive. When Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the actor best-known for his role as Theodore Huxtable on The Cosby Show, passed away last July, Simmons’s feed was flooded with portraits of the TV family, sat around their living room. He wanted to get into why they resonated so deeply, for himself and for his peers. “[I guess] it’s an exploration of love from a masculine perspective, specifically for Black men or people of color,” he says, “perpetuating the types of images we don’t see that often.”
Simmons got to thinking about the classic Black American family, as it’s portrayed in the sitcom. The most iconic shows showed up around the late 80s, wrapping in the early 2000s—and their most iconic sets were the living rooms, where the sofa was the centerpiece. In The Cosby Show, it was that floral three-seater; in Martin, cushy blue leather; in Living Single, beige with matching loveseats, facilitating scenes where characters joked and worked out conflict, a kind of affectionate portraiture in its own right.
“How we staged the acts, they’re really honest: The mood, the facial expressions, these are all real feelings that we captured,” says Simmons. “There was no direction. It really was people getting together with their loved ones and sitting for portraits.” The artist hopes to convey a sense of tenderness, a mode of domestic life that exists outside of time, place, race, gender, or any specific medium: “It could be today, could be 20 years ago, could be the future.”
Melvin Gregg, his two sons, Sonny and Marley, and his father, Melvin Vaughan
Melvin Vaughn (back center) wears coat, jacket, hat and tie LORO PIANA. Marley (left) wears jacket, pants and hat LORO PIANA. Sonny (center) wears jacket and hat LORO PIANA. Melvin Gregg (right) wears coat, sweater, shirt, pants and tie LORO PIANA. Shoes stylist’s own.
“As far back as I can remember, all the generations in my family are from Virginia—Portsmouth, to be exact,” says actor Melvin Gregg. “My wife—her dad is from South Central LA, and her mom is from Afghanistan. So my boys have a mixed geographical background.”
Gregg was born into a large family, the sole boy among six sisters. From his father, he says, he learned self-confidence; his mother instilled the virtues of a work ethic. Initially, he studied marketing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, but moved out to LA to pursue his dreams of becoming an actor in 2011. “Where I’m from in Virginia, there’s not a lot of opportunity to do a lot—it’s a small world, and you don’t know much about the world outside of it,” he says. “When I moved to LA, I just felt kind of limitless.”
He decided to move his father out to be closer to them, and wants to impart that same sense of limitlessness to his kids. “I think for my boys to grow up in Los Angeles, they’ll really feel like they have the access to whatever their hearts desire,” he says. “Given the tools that I’ve learned from my parents, which I’ll pass onto them, they’ll have the grit and the toughness to go out and attack the world, and accomplish whatever they set out to. LA is a big part of that.”
Marley (left) wears pants LORO PIANA. Melvin (right) wears coat and pants LORO PIANA. Shoes stylist’s own.
Melvin wears coat and hat LORO PIANA.
Isaac and Ozzy Pedroza
Ozzy (left) wears coat, sweater and hat LORO PIANA. Gloves stylist’s own. Isaac (right) wears coat, jacket, shirt, pants and tie LORO PIANA.
Isaac and Ozzy live in LA and see each other often. Isaac learned from his brother “to be resilient—not to let the system take advantage of you in any way.” From his father: “Never take things for granted. Nobody pays your bills, so their opinion holds no validity.”
A recent memory the family shares: “We went to Florida and sat down at a table together and ate some blue-shell crabs. It reminded us of childhood memories, going on vacation to Charleston with family from down south.”
Swap and his sons, Jru’Angelo and Heavn Larrazabal
Swap wears coat, sweater, pants and hat LORO PIANA.
“We’re all from LA,” says Swap of himself as his sons. “I grew up homeless and constantly moving, but really sunk my roots in MacArthur Park. As a central city boy it made sense to raise Jru’Angelo and Heavn in DTLA.”
A treasured recent memory of his is Jru’Angelo’s fifth birthday: “We threw a b-boy jam at Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights, where I used to break as a kid.” When Swap thinks about the lessons he wants to instill in his sons, he goes back to his parents and grandparents: “If you push through the hard times, there’s no wasted time.”
Jru’Angelo, on what he admires about his brother: “He always plays fighting with me, watches movies in my bed, and eats sugar.” On where he wants to live one day: “My city makes me happy.”
Jru’Angelo (front) wears shirt, pants and scarf LORO PIANA. Swap (back center) wears coat, pants, hat and shoes LORO PIANA. Heavn (right) wears cardigan, t-shirt and scarf LORO PIANA.
Ouzi Diakite, John Malone, and Tyler Brown
Ouzi (left) wears coat, jacket, shirt pants, tie and shoes LORO PIANA. John(center) wears coat, sweater and pants LORO PIANA. Tyler (right) wears coat, sweater and pants LORO PIANA. Shoes stylist’s own.
“We all came to LA to pursue a dream,” Ouzi says of himself and of his brothers.” His family deeply values discipline: “It’s translated in all aspects of our lives, when we played basketball in high school and college, in academics. When we stay disciplined to our craft it always pays off.”
His family shows support by “checking in on each other—[communicating] that we have each other, no matter what.”
John wears Coat and sweater LORO PIANA.
Ouzi (left) wears coat, shirt and pants LORO PIANA. John (center) wears coat, sweater and pants LORO PIANA. Tyler (right) wears coat, sweater and pants LORO PIANA.
Yugu and Pitya Wani
Yugu (left) wears coat, pants, hat and boots LORO PIANA. Pitya(right) wears coat, pants and hat LORO PIANA.
The Wani twins live together in San Diego. Their family immigrated to the city from Sudan in the late 1990s, fleeing the civil war. One tradition they still follow? “Our first paycheck is always sent to our family back in South Sudan.”
Yugu, on the way his family shows love: “Praying for one another and gathering in our church. When my mother broke her leg, lots of family visited to keep her company and help her with cooking. When someone graduates, we host big parties and cookouts.”
Pitya, on something he takes from his parents: “To keep praying and manifesting my dreams. They also taught me that you need to work hard, because the world isn’t free.”
Eyoel, Ezekias, and Theodore Mammo
Eyoel (left) wears coat,shirt and pants LORO PIANA. Theodore (center) wears coat, shirt, hat and tie LORO PIANA. Ezekias (right) wears coat, jacket, shirt, pants and tie LORO PIANA.
Theodore Mammo was born and raised in Ethiopia, immigrating to the States in 1988. His three sons were born and raised in LA—“well-mannered, responsible, truly model citizens,” are a few terms he uses to describe them.
“We are a very family-oriented household,” Theodore says, “with a strong tradition of celebrating both Ethiopian and American holidays with our extended family. As parents, we have tried to instill in them the values of love, selflessness, and kindness.”
Eyoel loves roadtripping with the family, admires his brother’s ability to cook, and appreciates the action-based ways his parents show up for him: “They always found the time to take me to every single soccer practice and game, no matter the time, weather, or distance. I always interpreted that as them supporting my dreams. And my dad wasn’t one of those dads who told me I did well to make me feel good. He tells me the honest truth, every single time. That type of support always meant a lot to me.”
On living in LA, Eyoel says: “This city means so much to me. This city has truly taught me gratitude. Knowing the amount of people who would give everything to live in LA, even visit, makes me extremely thankful that I am lucky enough to live here. Because of this, I make sure to live my life accordingly.”
Eyoel wears coat, shirt and tie LORO PIANA.
Read the full story in Justsmile Issue 7, available to order here.
