About

Love Lives Here is a multimedia storytelling project about Lisa-Erika James’ elders that celebrates Black joy and triumph while showcasing the complexity of the human experience. After visiting concentration camps in Eastern Europe while on a writing scholarship, James was struck by the way family histories were preserved, which spurred her to explore her own roots in the southern United States and western Africa. She knew she needed to safeguard and amplify her own family’s experiences, allowing them to tell their own stories and be appreciated and acknowledged in their lifetime.

Love Lives Here illustrates and celebrates the lives of James’ elders, including her great-great grandfather who was born into enslavement; her grandfather who fought in WWII; her father, who served as a medic in the Vietnam War; her mother, who worked 35 years on the Ford assembly line; and many other family members.