The Whittakers: Echoes of Isolation and Humanity

Deep in the shadowed woods of Odd, West Virginia, the Whittaker family lives frozen in time — far from the world’s noise, in a humble home stripped of modern comforts, where electricity flickers rarely and connection to society feels like a distant dream.

Photographer Mark Laita and his Soft White Underbelly lens unveiled their raw, unfiltered story: generations bound by close-kin unions, leaving visible marks — slurred words, gentle grunts instead of speech, faces and bodies shaped by nature’s unforgiving hand.
Yet amid the hardship, strangers who dared visit found unexpected warmth: shy smiles, shared food, quiet hospitality that pierces the heart. Beneath the struggle beats a fierce, unbroken human spirit — kind, resilient, enduring.

They remain there still, untouched by fame’s pull, living quietly as the forest whispers around them. A haunting reminder that even in the deepest isolation, humanity refuses to fade.
From silence… to silent strength. From shadows… to stubborn light.