Visual artist Ayana Jackson fights photography with photography. She uses her lens to explore how images captured by white photographers shape and construct African and African-American identities. In her latest collection, she assumes the role of historic black women from the 19th century, including her own relatives. 

We speak with Jackson about her work, how Africans and African-Americans are represented through images, and why the race of the person behind the lens matters.

Her images will be on display as part of the exhibit "AFRICA FORECAST: Fashioning Contemporary Life" at the Spelman College of Museum of Fine Arts