Hudnall has spent 50 years photographing Southern Black communities. Although born in Mississippi, he has called Texas home since 1968, when he moved to Houston to attend the historically Black school Texas Southern University. He was mentored there by John Biggers and eventually became staff photographer.

Using either a medium format or 35mm camera, Hudnall documents the residents of neighborhoods like Houston’s Third Ward. Inspired by the family albums his grandmother showed him, he focuses on community, family, and celebration instead of hardship or oppression. Many of his photographs are drawn from memories of his own childhood, inspiring images like Wheels, in which a quartet of carefree boys lounges on the sidewalk. After the 2020 murder of George Floyd Jr., who grew up in the Third Ward, Hudnall spoke about the need to protect and guide the children he photographs, calling them “young Floyds.”

—Text taken from the Carter Handbook (2023)