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?
I had a chance to meet and talk with Gene Kansas last week about the Atlanta Daily World building.First let me say he is a super guy so my opinion may bebit biased here but I was looking and listening as we talked.One of the issues I have been wrestling with is how we remember?What does it mean for Auburn Avenue to be the “New Sweet Auburn Avenue”? It will not be what it was and it shouldn’t be.This street has to evolve. As it evolves one of my many questions has been how it remembers?I’ve especially been asking how will African American history be remembered?
The work Gene Kansas is doing and the building he owns is a central part of this story I am telling. We are talking about The Atlanta Daily World Building. This is the place where the oldest African American owned and ran newspaper resided. The days of the Atlanta Daily World’s heyday is history but we can’t forget what it was and what it did for our people. The world has changed and this building has changed owners and it is being changed, in the process of change will we forget to remember?
The thing that amazed me most about my time with Gene was his keen sense of and respect for history in general and African American history in particular. He ins’t some fly by night developer and overseer of gentrification. He is a compassionate soul who is connecting this building with it’s history. Everything that is going into the building harkens back to a time in past of that very building. There is this neat integration of the past with the present that breathes from outside to the inside of the building. Gene get’s it and this is a relief for me. I think memory is important and the question is how do we remember? What does it mean and look like to celebrate the past as we live into the future? Gene has taken questions like thes very seriously and I am happy to see what he is doing.
Gene is allowing me to walk with him and his team as they do the historical restoration and renovation and I plan to do just that. I invite you to journey with us on this ride down Sweet Auburn Avenue as it becomes sweet again. How does a street that has gone through several failed revitalization efforts come out of this one? We will see? What is it in your life that needs revitalizing? Are you getting your construction project started?
Eugene Richards and Ralph Basui Watkins October 9, 2014 - Atlanta, GA
Some of us are lucky enough to have families that we enjoy being around because we share a common set of values, goals and dreams. There are others who have families that don’t embrace your worldview and as a result you don’t feel close to them. They can’t nurture your dreams or celebrate your desire to constantly remake yourself. In the case when our family members can’t be the supportive nurturing network we need it is up to us to find that network we need for support.
It is idealistic and unrealistic to expect our family to be this totally supportive network. When it comes to family, it is what it is. Don’t hate your family for what they are not. Define your familial relationship in ways that are healthy for you and then move on. I have found it necessary to draw close to people who see the world as I choose to see it. I know that I am “different” and I don’t expect certain folk to get me so I get with folk I get and want to be like.
I think it is important to establish reference groups. Reference groups are those people who represent what you want to become. For example in my area of photography there are certain photographers I admire. One such photographer is Eugene Richards. I admire both his work and the person that he is. Eugene is a person of integrity, moral character and he is transparent. His work is about relationships. He cares for the people he photographs. He doesn’t tell their story but rather he becomes a part of their story.
I had the chance to meet Eugene last week and talk with him. While I have everyone of his books and I have followed his career that meeting was more than what I expected it to be. He was humble, kind, gentle and patient. He took time to talk with me, answer my questions and give me advice. Everything I thought he was he turned out to be. When I heard Eugene was coming to town I made it my business to be at the lecture, front row and to stand inline as long as I needed to talk to him. I was going to press my way to make a connection that I was hoping would confirm who I thought he was and affirm who I am becoming. It HAPPENED! Who are the members of your reference group? Are you seeking them out? Are you trying to meet them and connect with them? Do they know you exist?
On the eve of October 1, 2014 The Atlanta Streetcar passed
the test.The Streetcar performed under
its own power.The night was filled with
excitement as onlookers and those who have worked on the project rejoiced.It was exhilarating to be on the street that
night as the Streetcar pulled out of the station and started down Fort Street,
made a left turn and made its way down Auburn Avenue.
I didn’t know how I would feel about this night.When I began this project I was a bit
ambivalent about the revitalization of Auburn Avenue. I struggled with how the
history would be remembered and preserved.While I still wonder about how Sweet Auburn will remember I am yet
hopeful of the life the new streetcar will bring.What I know is that life must be brought to
this street if the history is to remembered and celebrated.The bringing of people and activity opens up
the opportunity for a conversation.
Sharon Gavin, Communications Director for Atlanta Streetcar
is awesome.She is such a gracious
person who is working with the community.You can tell that she cares about the legacy of Auburn Avenue and she is
passionate about the connection of the past with the present.To talk to her gives me hope. I have been
literally moved by the coming of the Streetcar.I think the potential for memory is here.This isn’t an either or proposition but
rather a both and proposition. How do we have urban renewal and redevelopment
while simultaneously preserving the rich history of our city?We can do both?What are those things you are trying to build
and trying to preserve?Can you walk in
the tension of yesterday while moving into the promise of tomorrow?
One of the many things I have learned in school at Savannah College of Art and Design is the importance of finding artist who you admire and can also inform your work. To look at their work and to follow their careers has away of influencing your work. Your eyes are trained to see in new and different ways as you engage their work. You are not inclined to copy them but rather to see your work in new ways as your work engages their work in the process of your creating work.
Eugene Richards inspires me in so many ways.One of the things I really enjoy about his work is his sharing his journey as he creates his work.He allows you to walk with him as he creates because he so transparent.His images are paired with his writings and his writings are a combination of diary, commentary on his pictures and his engagement with his subjects.
Richards takes time with his projects and builds relationship with his subjects. One thing I have learned from him is to take your time. I am always in hurry, trying to accomplish as much as I can in the time that I have. Richards has taught me to slow down. Take time to see the light; be conscious about your composition; think about what you are seeing and what you want to show via the image you create. I hear Richards as I seek to see what I hope to capture as I make photos. Who are you listening to? Who is guiding you? Whose in your head and eye? Whose is inspiring you not to recreate them but to become you?
I don’t claim to know Rev. Jeremiah Wright well.What I do know is the times I have bee in his presence I have been mesmerized by his brilliance, his love for a liberative God in Jesus and his love for people. He is so accessible.Anyone can walk up to him, talk to him and you can see how he cares for them.He gives them his full attention.He listens and looks with a pastors heart.
Rev. Wright isn’t into celebrity he is into to people. This image represents how I see him. As I was taking pictures last Wednesday night at Ebenezer Baptist Church Rev. Wright took time to greet and talk to everyone in line. He gave special attention to each kid that came through the line to shake his hand. He bent down and talked to them and he asked, “Do you want a picture?” The kids would smile, because they had felt the genuine love Rev. Wright had for them. He would take time to pose with them and take the picture.
Above all Rev. Wright is a pastor with a pastor’s heart. He cares for people and it shows. You can feel the love when you are around him. I thank God for pastors like Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright. When we love God by definition we are called to love people. How do you know what know about Rev. Wright?
While we react to the horrible criminal act of violence by Ray Rice, as we should, lets us not miss what we don’t see everyday.
The camera caught Ray Rice but what is it that the camera does not catch
that happens everyday / night? A few
facts:
1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence
in her lifetime.
Women ages 20 to 24 are at the greatest risk of
becoming victims of domestic violence
Every year, 1 in 3 women who is a victim of
homicide is murdered by her current or former partner
Every year, more than 3 million children witness
domestic violence in their homes
Domestic violence is most likely to occur
between 6 pm and 6 am.
More than 60% of domestic violence incidents
happen at home[1]
What happened to Janay Rice is happening in the homes of our
families and neighborhoods every night; in homes, after dark and both females
and children are victims of this horrible crime. There are no video cameras posted to record
the events of violence / abuse but the data is clear the crime is occurring. Do we see it?
Do we act?
@Donna Ferrato from Living with the Enemy
While we should be upset about what we saw on video when Ray
Rice committed a violent crime against Janay Rice let us continue to be equally
outraged about what is happening in homes around this country, night after
night. We have to talk about it and hold
these violent criminals accountable for their actions. While Ray Rice must pay, all the other
criminals must pay and the victims need our support as they seek freedom, justice and healing.
@Donna Ferrato from Living with the Enemy
This isn’t new as much as it is news. I am reminded of my life growing up and
seeing violence in my neighborhood. I
remember seeing this story on the big and small screen. Who can forget that
movie from 1991 Sleeping with the Enemy that
made us all sit in the theatre in horror.
Or the 1984 movie The Burning Bed , based on a true story of Francine Hughes,
that was so hard to look at but once again it told the story that we needed to see
and as a result call us to action.
I am also reminded of the 1991 book by photographer, Donna
Ferrato, Living With The Enemy, a book that makes us look at domestic
violence for the evil that it is.
Ferrato’s works makes us stare at the horrible affects and effects of
domestic violence / abuse.
As we react, accordingly to the violent criminal act of Ray
Rice, let us come together to continue to call this criminal act out in our
communities, families and faith communities.
Ray Rice being banned from the NFL and the CFL sends a message and that
message must also be translated at the grassroots level that we, you and I, will
not tolerate or be silent when it comes to the crime of domestic violence / abuse in
our midst. What are you, what am I,
going to do to make sure that there are no Ray Rices in our /my midst? How will
we see what the camera is not capturing, but we know is occurring, and act accordingly?
We live in a world that demands conformity. We are rewarded for being average, for
fitting in and simply going along to get along.
To be average is to be mediocre; it is to be in that big hump in the
bell curve. I don’t think it was in the
creator’s intent for us to be average when we were created.
We are each a designer original.We were designed differently to live do that
unique thing we were created to do.Over
time we are taught to stop being us and be like everyone else.When you choose to standout teachers will
say, “You aren’t like the rest of the children.”Our reply should be, “We weren’t designed to
be like the rest of the children and I am not going to allow you to put me in
that box.I am going to be the unique
and different.I am going to be the me the
creator created me to be.”
As we get older it doesn’t stop.We go to jobs on the daily that demand we fit
and do what is expected of us.If we do
what is expected we will never do the unexpected, the unusual, or the
extraordinary. If we always follow the rules we will never change the rules of
the game.I refuse to fit in!I refuse to do what you want me to do but
rather I will do what I was created to do the way I was created to do it.
Don’t expect people to understand you or what you do.You have to understand you and what you
do.You have to make sense to you.When you dare to be different people will
look at you funny, they will talk about you, they will not understand you and
in many cases they will not respect you.Their disrespect comes from their disdain for you because you have
chosen not to play the game they are average at playing on the daily.
Today I say to you dare to be different.Dare to express yourself?Dare to do that thing that others said you
couldn’t do or shouldn’t do!Do that
thing that when you tell people you are doing they look at you like you are
crazy.What is it about you that makes
you standout?What is it about you that
you need to amplify that says “I’m different and my difference makes a
difference and makes this world a better place; more just, more loving, more
kind and more creative? What is different in you that society has talked out of you?
Yesterday, after worship, one my fellow church members who
sits next to Vanessa and I asked, “So where have you been this summer, we’ve
missed you.”I replied, “I have been
shooting pictures and making videos working on my degree at Savannah College of
Art and Design (SCAD).”He replied, “I
thought you already had your doctorate.” “I do but I am doing an MFA in
photography.” It was as if he were implying that I should be done with school
because I have a PhD and DMin. Degree completion(s) are only a part of the
journey they are not the end of the journey.I firmly believe that we should be life long learners.This doesn’t mean we have to keep enrolling
in degree programs but it does mean that we should continue to advance our
knowledge, skills and passions in some kind of formal sustained process.
Tonight I will present my summer work for my class at
SCAD.This will be the official end to
my first year of studies at SCAD.Being
trained as an artist has been both challenging yet very rewarding.When I think back over the year I am reminded
how I have grown as an artist.From the
very first quarter I have been pushed.The professors at SCAD have made me look inward in search of my creative
sources.It has been an inward journey
to produce art that is created with the intent of being shared publicly.
At SCAD we are constantly creating art to be critiqued by
our peers and professors. This isn’t writing the paper, turn it in and get the
grade.The private dialogue between
professor and student is not what happens at SCAD.What I appreciate most about SCAD is that leaning,
developing and growing, as an artist is truly a communal project.I have enjoyed being apart of my new
community because in this community I have found new life, new energy and an
excitement about the demands of my work.
I would wish that everyone could experience what I have
experienced this past year.This isn’t
new to me because I have committed my life to navigating my journey. This thing
is about the journey; the joy of the journey is challenging you to become
yourself.This is a process of constant
discovery, hard work and never resting on what you did yesterday.What we did yesterday is a part of the
journey and informs the next leg of the journey but if we stop to long to read
what we wrote we might never write again.
I choose to continue to write my story.The journey isn’t over yet and I thank God
for leading me to SCAD.Where are you
being led?What is that next stop on
your journey that will help you see more, be more and do more of what is in you
that is trying to get out?
