I Know You Got Soul Exhibition Closing

MLK Sunday 1/18/26

Soul is something you feel before you ever see it. It’s vibration. Movement. Memory. The unseen frequency that lives inside every one of us. For more than 23 years I’ve photographed people — actors, musicians, leaders, everyday folks — and what I’ve learned is this: it’s never just about the pose. It’s about the energy underneath.

I Know You Got Soul began with one unexpected photograph — a slow-shutter experiment that revealed something I wasn’t trying to capture but couldn’t ignore: the motion of the soul. Not a face. Not a perfect frame. But a vibration. An echo. A truth.

That single image opened a new door for me. It changed how I see. How I shoot. How I listen to the world around me.

This collection is my tribute to the culture that shaped me — hip hop, house, Chicago, Black creativity, and the people whose presence leaves a mark long before their names are called. Motion became the language I used to honor them. A blur became a story. Color became emotion. Light became rhythm. Every photograph in this series moves because soul moves.

What you’re looking at is not still photography. It’s a transmission — the energy that happens right before the moment disappears.

These artists — poets, dancers, musicians, actors, band members, legends — all carry a frequency that can’t be staged. My job was to catch it. To hold it. To honor the parts of them that only reveal themselves in motion.

This body of work is also a reflection of my own journey. The kid who stood inside George’s Music Room every Tuesday. The young photographer learning how to see. The man who found his purpose through his lens. And the artist now choosing to move with intention, vibration, and soul.

I Know You Got Soul is more than an exhibit. It’s a mirror — for me, for us, for anyone who’s ever felt the rhythm of their own becoming.

Because the truth is simple: You can’t photograph a soul… but if you’re patient, you can catch the energy right before it disappears.

— Parrish Lewis

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Wax Vinyl Bar and Ramen Shop, 1549 West Chicago Avenue, Chicago, United States

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