Those who recall the Jackson Ward of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s likely remember a neighborhood in flux.

Rents were cheap, squatting was cheaper and more than a few musicians and artists called the ramshackle Richmond Dairy building home. Gentrification was on the horizon but years away, and the historically Black neighborhood and its businesses were thriving. 

Enter Alvin Lester, an MFA student at Virginia Commonwealth University, and his medium format camera. Starting in 1989 and working through 1991, Lester set out to produce intimate portraits of the people who not only provided essential services to residents but also constituted the social fabric of the Ward. Twenty of those photographs make up “Alvin Lester: Portraits from Jackson Ward and Beyond,” currently on view at the VMFA. 

Anyone who’s lived in Jackson Ward knows Moizelle’s Cleaners, a mainstay on 1st Street since at least 1920. “Robert Charles: Dry Cleaning Proprietor” shows Charles leaning on an ironing board beneath a row of wire hangers, completely at home in his domain. Lester himself was the son and grandson of men who had been dry cleaners, which undoubtedly contributed to how well he related to Charles, who’d started at Moizelle’s when he was 13 and in 1968, purchased the business. 

Lester made a point to photograph people in their workplace as a means of underscoring the value and dignity of everyday labor. With rattail comb in hand and perfectly coiffed hair, the photograph of “Belinda Brockenbrough, Beautician” could be an ad for her obviously skilled services. She exudes confidence and competence in her white jacket against a white wall, a plant-topped fluted column adding simple elegance to the background. 

Medium format cameras required careful, deliberate setup and Lester’s documentary portraits come across as grounded in trust and collaboration. Taking inspiration from the photographers who came before him, including Walker Evans, Lewis Hine, Dorthea Lange and James Van Der Zee, Lester captured the complexity, dignity and pride of Black neighborhoods, their business owners and residents. 

The ”Beyond” part of the exhibition’s title refers to Church Hill and Northside, which Lester photographed to a lesser degree. “George Miller, Baker” shows a man with one hand on bags of flour and the fingers of the other hand coated in flour, a bread mixer as tall as he is in the background. Miller’s bakery was on 25th Street in Church Hill. 

Booker’s Upholstery opened in Northside in 1970, helmed by skilled craftsman Wilford Booker. In “Wilford Booker, Furniture Upholsterer,” the viewer sees a no-nonsense kind of guy, banded hat on head, drill in hand, leaning on the backside of a piece of furniture he was probably then working on. There’s not even a hint of a smile, but why would there be with all the furniture and antiques behind him awaiting his attention? 

For sheer sartorial splendor, it’s hard to beat the elegantly dressed man in “James Williams, Hairstylist.” Gazing at the camera confidently from his hair salon near Abner Clay Park, Williams projects pride and professionalism. But there’s an overlay, a deliberate emphasis on style and self-care, from the pleated white pants to the natty striped tie and gold wristwatch. This is a man who got noticed on the streets of Jackson Ward. 

It wasn’t by accident that Lester’s photographs carry so much emotional and historical weight. “My goal was to describe the reality of people working long, hard hours, sometimes more for pride than profit,” he wrote. “With these photographs, it is my determination to render an understanding of that reality.” 

“Alvin Lester: Portraits from Jackson Ward and Beyond” runs through March 30, 2026 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. This story originally appeared on Styleweekly.com.

 “Shirley Collins, Herbalist,” 1989–1991