Faith in Sweet Auburn: The Next Chapter

Two years ago I began a journey down Auburn Avenue.  The street was at the brink of construction for the new Atlanta Streetcar. I committed myself back then to follow this story and to begin to build a relationship with the street and it’s people. I have worked at building this relationship by walking this street, day after day, talking to people, taking pictures and telling stories.  I have done this by trying to tell this evolving story while talking about my relationship to what is happening along Auburn Avenue.  I have never hid my hand.  I have always been up front.  My concern was African American history.  Through my blog, Flickr photo albums, Twitter, Vimeo and Youtube channels and Instagram I’ve tried to share this story.  The work has revolved around one key question: How will we remember as the street and the city moves forward?  Will the next chapter in the life of Sweet Auburn remember the former chapters?

This street was the bedrock of the African American community back in the day. King and Maynard Jackson were touched by this street. Martin L. King Jr. was raised on this street and now he rest on this street.  Maynard Jackson’s grandfather once ran this street as he modeled for Maynard how to run this city.  As millions come to Atlanta and journey down to the King Center and Ebenezer do they know they are walking a pass The Southern Christian Leadership, the Mason’s Lodge where John Wesley Dobbs once led, do they notice the bust of John Wesley Dobbs looking onto the street he named?  Do they know they are passing WERD Radio, The Atlanta Daily World, The Rucker Building, the financial kingdom that Alonzo Herndon built and do they stop at the Apex Museum?  Will the new streetcar take them pass history and ultimately lead to historical amnesia?  This work doesn’t answer these questions but it sure hopes to raise them and invite you in on the discussion.

As I approach my thesis exhibition I am eternally thankful to the faculty at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) who helped me see my way through this work.  They worked with me to make sure I led with the visual while not ignoring my love for writing.  They were the perfect faculty for me and I am thankful.  To my colleagues at who pushed me during critiques of the work as it developed, I learned so much from each of you.  To Mr. Dan Moore Sr. and the Apex Museum staff you have been so kind and supportive from day one and I am thankful.  I am honored to have my work on display at the Apex Museum.  My work comes out of the mission and vision of the Apex.  This had to be the first place I had a show and I am humbled to have my work hang on the walls of the Apex. Finally to my family who have supported me through this work.  Your encouragement and patience coupled with your love is what has sustained me during long hours of work.  Especially to my wife, Dr. Vanessa Watkins, without you this would’ve been impossible.  

The show is up and ready for you.  I invite you to come by and see the work:

Opening Reception: Friday, October 16, 2015 from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. Drop in when you can and come by and take fifteen minutes to see the work and say hello.

Faith in Sweet Auburn: The Next Chapter

The Apex Museum 

135 Auburn Avenue NE

Atlanta, GA 30303

(404) 532-2739

Faith in Sweet Auburn - Show Details

Flickr Photo Album

The Videos

Women of Distinction: "I Remember Her in So Many Wonderful Ways": A Tribute to Mrs. Evelyn Gibson Lowery

On Monday, September 28, 2015 I was there to witness the dedication of a mural honoring Mrs. Evelyn Gibson Lowery.  It was truly a moving tribute.  Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery loved his wife and you could see it in his eyes.  His children and family that surrounded him were evidence of  who Mrs. Lowery was.  She was a first class lady who was a leader and giant of her time.  She not only led in the struggle but she also led at home.  Dr. Lowery said of his wife that according to her, her greatest accomplishment was raising her three daughters.  Raise them she did.  They are all outstanding women who reflect their parents and especially the grace and class of their mother.

As I witnessed the dedication of the mural I wondered if those who walked, rode and drove along Auburn Avenue will take time to remember?  Will they stop and read what is on the mural and Google Mrs. Lowery?  Will they take time to remember her?  I sure hope so because she is worthy of being remembered.   While we remember we should not that she yet lives through the continued work of the Joseph & Evelyn Lowery Institute.  She also lives in each of us as we continue to struggle for freedom justice and equality.  

What I saw was a beautiful moment that I hope we don’t let slip by.  What do I mean?  As I saw the Lowery family remember I asked myself who in my family do I need to make sure we remember?  What murals should be in our family photo albums that make sure that we don’t forget our ancestors?  The women and men whose blood runs through our veins, those who who  fought for us to enjoy the life we live today?  Whose name do you need to call?  When you call the name of an ancestor they yet live!  Who are you going to resurrect today?

Pictures from mural dedication

Taking Your Craft to the Next Level: Steal Like an Artist

“What good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before.  Nothing is completely original…You are, in fact a mashup of what you choose let in your life.  You are the sum of your influences….The artist is a collector.  Not a hoarder, mind you, there’s a difference:  Hoarders collect indiscriminately, artists collect selectively.  They only collect the things they really love….Your job is to collet good ideas.  The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by.”

Austin Kelon from Steal Like an Artist

There are books I go back to over and over again, and one of those books is Austin Kleon’s book Steal Like an Artist.   This little book affirmed for me what I have been doing my entire career.  What I have been doing is picking from those people whom I love, whose work I love, whose work inspires me and moves me.  I realized that if I was to create work that made a difference I had to know what came before me and then ask how do I extend this work.  The work that inspires me is not to be copied but extended or taken to the next point on the continuum.  Whose work are you influenced by and how is their work inspiring your work?  How are you taking what they have given you and moving it along?

I follow some great documentary / street photographers and photojournalist, I am totally inspired by them but my goal is take their inspiring work to that next spot on the continuum.  Recently I began to ponder aerial photography and it’s role in my current work, Faith in Sweet Auburn: The Next Chapter.  I found that a small drone could take my work to that next spot / level.  I have access to a tool that many of mentors did not have.  I have something to add to the work I am immersed in. I purchased the DJi Phantom2  Vison +:

I have been spending the last view weeks trying to learn how to fly the Phantom so that I can use it for both aerial video and photography. I am spending time everyday learning how to fly, how to control the camera, how to compose shots from the air.  Is it hard work? YES!  It looks easy but it isn’t.  While it isn’t easy it is what I am called to next in my work.  The question for you: what are you called to next?  How are you pushing yourself to extend the work of those who have inspired you?  What are you working on that has the promise of taking you and your work to the next level?

Here is a sample video of what I am working on:

Austin Kleon’s TED Talk:

Don’t Forget to Remember: Museum to Movement

“Atlanta’s most notable tradition is that we have no traditions, or at least that we are not bound by traditions and reverence for the past in the way that some other communities, especially in the South have been.  Like Rhett and Scarlett, we don’t look back.  Instead we look forward to the future with courage and confidence and one eye on the cash register.  We’ll try anything once, and if it works, we’ll keep it until something better comes along.”

Clifford Kuhn

Living Atlanta: An Oral History of the City, 1914 - 1948

I continue to document the transformation of Sweet Auburn Avenue.  It is my hope that my work will do what William Stott says good documentary work does.  William Stott said, “Social documentary work can depict how a situation feels and not just how it looks; it can convey factual information about the world compelling by delivering it in emotionally charged ways, harnessing compassion and sentimentality for persuasive ends.  It can sensitize our intellect and education our emotions.”[1] Stott gives us the potential of good documentary work.  The work has the potential to do more than document what is happening in a factual way but rather it has an emotional component. It moves those who engage the story to a point of connection.  I invite you to enter this story, Faith in Sweet Auburn: The Next Chapter.  This week I want to introduce you to, two of the many people who have a stake in the past, present and future of Sweet Auburn. Last week I had the privilege of interviewing two people from two different sides of the street, Mr. Dan Moore of the Apex Museum and Jennie Rivlin Roberts of ModernTribe. 

Dan Moore has been on Auburn Avenue since the late 1970s and he is a historian who is passionate about the history of Sweet Auburn.  Jennie Rivlin Roberts is a native Atlantan who has opened up a new “popup shop” on Auburn Avenue.  While Mr. Moore welcomes the new shop owners he is concerned about the history of Sweet Auburn being forgotten and he struggles with how the new Auburn Avenue will be connected to the foundation upon which it stands. Jennie on the other hand sees here presence as a continuation of the history of this great Street and great city.  She respects the legacy and history of Sweet Auburn while she and her colleagues write the next chapter.  Listen to their interviews and tell me what you think:

 

What does it mean to remember?   What does it mean to pay tribute to the past?  How do changing communities and city streets remember from whence they have come?  What does the present owe the past?

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[1] Stott, William.  Documentary Expression and Thirties America. (Oxford University Press, 1973), pp. 5-63.