Up Your Game or Become Irrelevant

Gordon Parks - an example of one who always saw and prepared for the future of his field. 

The world is changing rapidly.  The one thing that is certain is change.  The days of the secure job, the tenured positions are things of the past.  The key for anyone in the workforce today is to learn how to live in this world of change and navigate the ever-changing terrain of your chosen career field.

The key here is doing what you love and continuing to make yourself a leader in your field.  To be a leader in your field is not based on what or how a leader is defined in the field today but rather how will leader be defined tomorrow.  Leaders for tomorrow will be misunderstood today because those at the top will judge you based on the rules for today because in many cases they don’t realize that the rules have changed.

You have to recognize that the rules have changed and this takes vision.  You must see what’s next and be prepared for it when it comes.  To see what is next you have to live in the future while surviving in the present.  This means you must be good at playing the game as it is played today while simultaneously preparing yourself for the game as it will be played tomorrow.

To play and prepare means you are going to have to do two things at once. You are going to have work while you play.  To work while you play in essence is to do the task as they come at you today and then enjoy the process of preparation for what’s next.  It is this preparation that must be fun for you.  If you don’t enjoy the process of becoming you probably will not enjoy what it is you are preparing to do.  

Do you se the future in your field?  Are you ahead of the game or you playing a game that is dead, dying and changing?  How do you judge your preparation for the future while excelling in the present? What are you doing on the daily to prepare you for tomorrow?

To learn more about Mr. Parks I recommend the book and documentary "Half Past Autumn"

The Documentary

The Book

Do You See You? The Revolutionary Artist!

“You should be able to look at me and see my work.  You should be able to look at my work and see me.”

Roy DeCarava

Thru Black Eyes

In sociology we have something we call reference groups.  Reference groups are those groups of people you look up to and aspire to become.  As a budding photographer I have found it so important to find those photographers whose work can inspire and inform my work.  What I’ve found in my studies, just like in my former academic journeys, there are few African Americans put in front of us in the classroom.

When the roll of great photographers are called they very rarely look like me or see as I do. The eye of the photographer is focused via his or her socialization.  The background from which one comes informs how he or she views the world through the view finder.  Moreover when the world of photography has primarily been defined by the eyes of those who don’t look like and don’t see as I see then the question becomes how is the work of the African American photographers viewed in a world that is defined by the “masters”?

When I think of the roll call that is laid out in photography programs we get all the usual suspects. The Life  magazine photographers and the  Magnum photographers and VII are the names we here.  But if I were to call the names:

The Kamoinge Workshop

Louis Draper

Thomas Askew

Jim Alexander

Albert Fennar

Moneta Sleet

Michael Cheers

Vandell Cobb

Kenneth Coleman

Lacey Crawford

Todd Duncan

Bill Gillohm

Bob Johnson

Herbert Randall

John Shearer

Ozar Muhamad

G. Marshall Wilson

Just to name a few….the room would go silent. These names aren’t called.  The work of these photographers is not on the contact sheet of important photographers.  How do I see the group I want to be part of when the group isn’t presented to me in the classroom?  As an African American who holds a camera and views the world through the viewfinder how do I connect with those who have been socialized as I have, especially those, who like me, considers themselves activist photographers?  When the work of those who look like me and see like me have been ignored by the institutions that shape photographers the question becomes how are these institutions teaching me to see and can I see myself and my work in a world that doesn’t see those who came before me?

The answer to my dilemma is it is up to me, it is up to you to find your group.  Your group is that group of artist, thinkers, game changers that you want to be part of and you have to study them. Follow them and find out how you might become part of that group.  Don’t wait for or expect others to show you the road to artistic freedom and expression.  It is your responsibility to find yourself.

Required Reading - Not Assigned - This is my reading list over the winter break.

Let me be clear this is not a personal attack but rather an institutional critique.  This is not about the teachers in the classroom but rather I am talking about how institutions systemically embrace, nurture and support systems of oppression. Masters aren’t trained to nurture revolutionaries.  Masters are trained to break revolutionaries. Institutions that award you master degrees aren’t preparing you to become a master but rather to submit to the master. You have to reflect on Audre Lorde question:  “Can we use the masters tools to dismantle the master’s house.”  The master will never give you the tools for freedom.  The tools to secure your freedom is constructed in the heart, mind and eye of the revolutionary artist.  Go find your group and in-turn you will find yourself and create revolutionary art.  Where are you looking?  What are you seeing?  What are you creating?

Don’t Wait On Others To Tell You How Good You Are – Tell yourself and do the WORK!

Photographer, Moneta J. Sleet Jr. 1969 Pulitzer Prize winning image.

Who was Moneta Sleet?  Moneta  J. Sleet Jr. was the first African American to win Pulitzer Prize Feature Award in 1969 for the image we all know but many didn’t know who took it.  Mr. Sleet was deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement and his covering of The Movement wasn’t an assignment but rather he was an activist.  He said, “I wasn’t there as an objective reporter….I had something to say.”

The story goes something like this.  As they were clearing the press core to cover the funeral of Dr. Martin L. King Jr., word got back to Mrs. Coretta Scott King that there were no African American journalists covering her husband’s funeral.  She sends word: If Moneta Sleet is not allowed into the church, there will be no photographers.”

In 1955 Sleet became a staff photographer for Ebony magazine.  It is interesting to me how the photographers for Life magazine are celebrated as masters in the field while the Ebony photographers are seldom if ever mentioned.  We know the names of the great Life photographers and they are standards in our field but not the Ebony photographers.  Why is that? 

Sleet covered our struggle as one who felt the pictures he was taking.  I have concluded that is difficult for people who don’t understand or appreciate you and your people’s contribution to then affirm you or see what you bring to the table.  This is why it is so hard to get organizations to see the asset in diversity.  They don’t realize the power of what different people bring to the table.  The masters still by and large overlook African Americans, women, ethnic minorities and persons of LGTBQ community.  The masters are still telling us who the masters are in our field and we are trying to be like them and the reality is we will never be them.

 

@Moneta Sleet Jr. 

While Moneta Sleet won the Pulitzer the real key to this story is that Mrs. King recognized his giftedness before he won. She knew he would be the one who would take the image we could feel.  She saw the gift before the world recognized it.  We have to look for our affirmation from those who love us, understand us and truly appreciate our work and us.  In too many instances we are looking for affirmation from those who may never recognize us. They can’t see what you see because they are looking through a different lens.  We see through a lens darkly and our images are those that Sleet sees.  Who are you looking to for affirmation?  How do you serve your community and stay in-touch with your people so that they can affirm what the creator has put in you and what you create?

To order the book:
Order the Book

To buy prints:
Buy Prints


To see more of Mr. Sleet's work see the link below:
http://www.pinterest.com/djk1312/moneta-sleet-jr/

To see the work of more Ebony photographers:
The Work of Ebony Photographers

Blood Stained Ballots: Dying to Vote

I can remember my great grandmother taking me to vote with her.  She was a soft spoken woman, so I don’t remember her saying much about this ritual but I can plainly see walking behind that curtain, hearing it close and my five year old eyes watching her vote.  I can remember it like it was today as I go to vote.  The voting machines look a lot different than what my great grandmother used but the process is still as important.

My great grandmother taking me to vote is a special memory for me because she told me of the time when she couldn’t vote.  For her to vote was a radical political act in itself.  When I vote today I continue to give her voice.  I am not only giving her voice but I am also joining with the million of voices dead and alive, ancestors, elders and my peers as we to exercise our right to vote that was won by the blood of those who died for me and us to have this right.

When I go to the polls this year ther are really souls at the polls.  The souls of the ancestors are there.  When I go to the polls I pray to the ancestors and I thank them for their sacrifice and I promise to not let their hard work be in vain.  This year I call on the name of my Great Grandmother Laura Respress of  Fannie Lou Hamer.  When you vote this year whose name will you call out? In whose name are you voting?  Do you see the blood of those who died on your ballot?