Ruddy Roye is Time Magazine's Instagram Photographer of the Year for 2016

For the second year in a row, Time Magazine's Instagram Photographer of the Year is a photographer who works in the American South. 

In 2015, the honoree was Stacy Kranitz; this year, its Brooklyn-based (but now Honorary Southern Photographer) Randolph (Ruddy) Roye.

 Roye's Instagram Feed is here. 

Time notes that "For the past four years, Roye has continuously photographed black people in and around his neighborhood and across America, each time with the stated goal of making people rethink their views and society-wide prejudices. 

“Before anything, before language, we see,” he says. “And if I can make you think about a particular subject matter before you even start to talk about it, then that’s my aim. My aim is to change your thought process.”

Recently Roye has been exploring the American South, making work in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Virginia. 

In the citation for Roye, the editors of Time note that Roye, "As a black photographer who has spent the last few years shining a light on the difficulties of other black men, women and children across America, he brings to his work an unwavering determination that can border on activism. 

"In fact, his Instagram profile is clear about his aim: he’s a humanist; an activist. A photographer with a conscience."

Roye's work gets to the heart of the tragic dilemmas of Southern history, documenting the long shadows they cast across contemporary America. 

Roye has certainly earned the right to be regarded as an Honorary Southern Photographer.