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Arbai Barre Abdi was one of nearly 13,000 Somali Bantu refugees who were resettled throughout the U.S. beginning in 2004. I met Arbai that same year, when she and her four children were placed in Clarkston, Ga., directly from a refugee camp in Kenya. It is estimated that 1 in 3 of Clarkston's residents is an immigrant, and more than 60 languages are now spoken in this small Southern town.
This series of portraits began in 2006, when I started using my 4x5 camera to document Arbai's growing family on my weekly visits. For the past six years, I have had the privilege of bearing witness to their overwhelming spirit as they assimilate to American life, while still preserving the traditions of their culture.
Bryan Meltz is a documentary photographer based in Atlanta, Ga. From 2004 to 2006, Meltz worked on a PBS documentary chronicling the lives of several Somali Bantu refugees from Africa to America. This led to her current long-term project on refugee resettlement in Clarkston, Ga. You can see Bryan's work onher website and on FotoVisura.
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