About The Project

Created with A Humanities DC Community Culture and Heritage Grant

The People in my Neighborhood is a community-based story-telling project, aimed at honoring, preserving and amplifying residents’ stories in my Southwest D.C. neighborhood. Through portraits and interviews with my neighbors, the project will explore themes of gentrification and community resilience, and document the history of Ward 6 from the lens of residents.

About The Photographer

My name is Krista Boccio. I am a professional photographer of three decades, now working freelance in Washington, D.C. My career began just after college, when I worked as a stringer for The Ocala Star Banner newspaper while I was pregnant with my first child. As my life progressed, I opened my own studio as an event and portrait photographer, which allowed me to build my craft while raising my family.

In 2014, I became the lead photographer for an estate sale company while continuing my own studio. I moved to Virginia from Columbus, Ohio in 2018, and then into D.C. proper in 2021. The unifying thread of my work has been my community-oriented, journalistic approach: I strive to amplify people’s stories through my craft. Influenced by recent social and political events, I am moved now to help tell the stories of my neighborhood.