Jahir Morris is a Caribbean-American researcher and self-taught digital photographer. Born and raised in South Queens, NY, he learned to channel his passion for conserving natural systems and reconstructing narratives through Black photographic tradition into a career which employs conservation science methodologies and grassroots community engagement to combat unprecedented declines in global biodiversity and the disastrous effects of climate change on frontline (often Black and Brown) communities.
Since graduating from Princeton University with a B.A in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, he specializes in promoting safe access to and meaningful engagement with federal public lands by members of marginalized communities as the Equitable Access Policy Fellow at The Wilderness Society (TWS).
As an artist, he takes a multidisciplinary approach to photographic techniques as a means of inviting the viewer to deconstruct imperialist narratives on wild places and reconsider their understanding of Blackness, wilderness, and the intricate relationship between the two.
He is currently a High Meadows Fellow for Equitable Access Policy at TWS and sponsored by the High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University.