In our kickoff episode of the year, host Flor Frances sits down with Miami-based photographer Josh Aronson to discuss Florida Boys, his compelling photo series and ongoing art project.Josh’s work made waves during Miami Art Week, including his groundbreaking installation at No Vacancy 2024 at The Catalina Hotel & Beach Club. His innovative approach earned him both the $10,000 People’s Choice Award and the $25,000 Juror’s Prize.
This episode first aired live on Jolt Radio on January 17, 2025.
Watch the video below and stream the podcast on Spotify
About Florida Boys
Florida Boys is a fictional photo series by Miami-based photographer Josh Aronson that reimagines Southern masculinity and delves into themes of racial identity and environmental fragility. This work envisions a group of young men escaping Florida’s infamous reform schools only to find themselves navigating a landscape forever alter by climate change. Migrating in small groups through the swamps, forests, abandoned gas stations, and secluded homesteads of North and Central Florida, these young men seek solace, community, and belonging amidst a landscape both familiar and fraught.Florida Boys serves as a layered map of Florida’s ecosystems and as a visual critique of rigid Southern archetypes. Aronson’s subjects are young Black and Brown men pictured in moments of leisure, joy, and connection to the land—challenging the stereotypical“tough” or “aggressive” Southern male image that often dominates American visual culture. The series is cinematic and staged, borrowing the narrative language of Justine Kurland’s Girl Pictures, Tina Barney’s Family Ties, and Gregory Crewdson’s Twilight, but with a refreshing departure: Aronson’s protagonists are neither white socialites nor troubled Northeasterners, but instead, playful, rebellious Black and Brown youth whose presence transforms the Southern landscape and redefines it on their own termFeaturing over 75 Floridians across 100 different natural landscapes, Florida Boys is along term, ongoing body of work that Aronson has been photographing since 2020.
Learn more about Josh Aronson
Website: www.josharonson.us
Instagram: @jda.usa