Crossing Cheshire Bridge: Photographs by Teri Darnell

Crossing Cheshire Bridge is an alluring look into the lives of a diverse urban community within Atlanta, Georgia, USA. For twelve years, I have submersed myself into the culture of Cheshire Bridge by photographing people along this infamous road. Cheshire Bridge has been a place for all to gather without judgment within the confines of this one-and-a-half mile road. Still, layers of complexities exist surrounding this community, not only with sex and sexuality, but with homelessness and gentrification. The surrounding neighborhoods have fought for years to shutdown businesses that have survived for decades, and question who has the right to exist and be happy, to be in love, and who deserves to be in our community. Recently, Cheshire Bridge road began suffering from an explosion of redevelopment, specifically with demolishing decades old small businesses, and replacing them with high rise apartments and massive multi-level storage facilities. With the recent plowing down of many establishments, people question if Cheshire Bridge were “sanitized”, where will they go?