Photographer and photojournalist June DeLairre Truesdale has devoted much of her career to documenting the people, institutions, and cultural life of New York’s African American community. Her work encompasses portraits, theatrical performances, public events, and religious spaces, preserving both individual presence and the environments in which community history unfolds. Her membership in Kamoinge places her within an influential tradition of Black photographers committed to representing their communities with dignity and artistic independence.

Truesdale studied studio art at Fordham University and developed a career spanning freelance, institutional, and cultural photography. In 1988, she joined the New York City Police Department as a photographer, covering community events, parades, and departmental ceremonies. Her published artist biography identifies her as the department’s first Black female photographer. She also photographed theatrical productions at Fordham and worked as a photo editor for its EVEXnewspaper.

The performing arts have been an important part of her professional life. Her assignments included Harlem’s National Black Theatre, the Negro Ensemble Company, and the AUDELCO awards celebrating achievement in Black theater. She also served as singer and actress Phyllis Hyman’s personal New York photographer. These associations connected her practice to a network of artists and cultural organizations whose activities contributed to the city’s creative life.

Truesdale’s photographs also record relationships within the visual arts community. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, reproduced her photograph of Adger Cowans and Al Loving in Loving’s studio during the 1980s, an image that preserves an informal encounter between two significant artists. Her work participated in Kamoinge’s Breaking Point exhibition at Photoville in 2016 and appeared in the collective’s publication Timeless: Photographs by Kamoinge. These presentations situated her images within a broader history of Black photographic expression, encompassing everyday life, cultural achievement, and the African diaspora.

One of Truesdale’s sustained projects is Come Sunday: Harlem Churches Great and Small. Her 2025 artist profile describes photographs made between 1986 and 2022 documenting more than 350 churches and places of worship. The project preserves the religious and geographic history of Harlem through its community spaces. The same profile records her work in the collections of Chicago’s DuSable Museum and the African American Museum in Philadelphia. Together, her portraits and documentary projects contribute to an enduring visual record of Black cultural life.