A native of New Orleans’s Ninth Ward, Chandra McCormick has dedicated her photographic career to documenting and honoring the lives and experiences of Black communities in Louisiana. McCormick’s photographs contend with themes of labor, daily life, and the social rituals that make up the cultural fabric of the American South. In The Prayer, McCormick captures a moment of collectivity preceding a river baptism in a rural community on the east bank of the Mississippi River where water has played an important role the spiritual lives of generations of residents.