Mountain Voices - Oct. 2007 ; "All Of Us" - Dec. 2007
Eagle's Nest, '03[View from Hobert's front porch]
"Mountain Voices"
Followed by essay "All of Us."
Followed by essay "All of Us."
Interviews, quotes and comments by my friends, subjects and families.
"Mountain Voices"
I ask my friends the difficult questions, because, “they know." What came from this October’s '07 visit was an affirmation. Hobert saying, “It’s mine,” in reference to his pride in his culture and upbringing; Rachel’s use of the words, “giving encouragement” in describing children and her openness; Phyllis’s words, “pride and respect”; Roy says, “You bring people out, put them at ease”; Kizzie, “picture takin’ makes me feel good”; Lloyd says, “pictures make us feel love, prayer and respect”; Terry remembers, “your showin’ they’s somethin’ good in all of us”; and last Sophie says, “Your visits brings happiness and recognition." I wish to thank all my friends for their patience, honesty, support and encouragement. Why post this? Perhaps I needed to confirm for myself how my subjects really feel. I learned a great deal from these interviews; how my people experience and value photography, their own culture, its diversity of people and my relationships to them. Will this make a difference to you as viewers of my work? I hope so. I remember what my friend Hort Collins once said, “It’s only what you thinkin’ is what you see,” published in "Appalachian Lives," 2003. Shelby Lee Adams
"Mountain Voices"
Hobert White Interview: We have known each other for five years. Hobert is the father of Cody, in photo "Cody and Tank, '04." His family lives in the head of a hollow called Eagle's Nest. Hobert has helped me make several photographs in his community.
Shelby: What do pictures mean to you and your family?
Hobert: "You see a generation of people that no longer exist. When you go to the heads of these hollers those people still preserve the old ways. They do things the way we done'm 30 to 40 year ago. They's people that hang true to that. The pictures that you take, when I first saw them, they automatically take me back to my childhood, that old plow, that wall paper made out of old newsprint, the fact that they are black and white, that brings back happy memories to me, yet they are of today, too. The good part of it to me is the memories. Pictures are good memories, past and present, and good for our children's future."
Shelby: Do you see poverty in my pictures?
Hobert: "There is no poverty to us; we're rich in what we have and do. OK, so we don't have a lot of money, we don't have big fine cars and fine homes. We have tradition, we're rich in culture.
I can take someone from NYC and bring them here and they would starve to death, because they don't know here. They don't know how to survive, how to preserve food, garden, canning, how to get buy from the land. That's what we do. It's not just a culture past; it's a way of life now. It's our way of life. I wouldn't trade this, my way of life for anything that anybody in NYC or anywhere has."
"I was raised to this, I was taught this by my grandfather and father.
It's mine."
"An outsider already has an idea of what they think about me before they meet me or hear me speak. They see your pictures different than I do to. You look at "The Hog Killing, '90," picture, that makes me think, my memories come back, I could feel the cold mornings from my childhood, in the dark and having the water on the fire boilin' before daylight, we killed the hog, the neighbors come over and what a time we had, we was scrappin', workin', it was an event, we made cracklin's, history, that's what it is. These pictures are life. That's fantastic; no one had to tell me that. That meat from your makin' that photo fed those families for three months, we know that, ain't no stagin' to that, that's good as we see it. You don't try and paint no picture that's untrue. There's a life that's goin', but I can still look at 'em and still recall it in your pictures. We have culture, that's what that picture is about and that means everything."
"I haven't known you that long, but I know who you are. We have a sense about us here and we know whether or not, you're lookin' at us as some poverty stricken little poor feller. We know. I see a culture that's dying in your pictures. I see a way of life that's dying that may no longer exist. It's important what you do."
Cody and Tank, '04
"If you sold my son's picture for a million dollars tomorrow that would be great, because we have one of the pictures in our home and we are proud of it. If you have to pay someone to take their picture, then it's fake."
"Kentucky is a divided state. The wealthy think what you're showin' is only the bad, but what they don't understand is you're only showin' the good. You're showin' life here at its beginnin', when it was simpler. Without those holler dwellers as you call them, there wouldn't be those big fine people today. They the ones who ridicule us today, because they're ashamed. They wish we didn't exist. Without us, they wouldn't be them."
"People should get to know us before they judge us, they should get to know you and what you about first. They's a history behind it. You preserve my way of life. If the people you photograph, don't complain, no body else has a right to, it's our way of life. We ain't up tight about who we are. I'm proud of who I am. We are a proud people. We don't want to be disrespected and you're not."
Hobert White
Eagle's Nest
Rachel and Family, '06Rachel Riddle Interview: Rachel and I have known each other since 1983. She and her family have helped me with my work now for over 25 years. The Riddles pose for pictures, help educate me to their religious and cultural beliefs and provide personal introductions to neighbors and church groups. Rachel's children have traveled with me as my photo assistants on many occasions.
Shelby: What do pictures mean to you?
Rachel: "Pictures? Pictures mean you've got photographs of your loved ones, your fore-fathers. You can look back and see what was, when younger. It's part of our history and you wonder back and imagine what they would look like today if they had lived now and what they might think of in today's time. Pictures, they mean a whole lot."
Shelby: In general, I know you and your grandchildren have been reading sites about me and my work on the Internet. I know you want to address some of these issues.
Rachel: "Shelby, you have been coming in here for so long. You find people in need, you take there pictures, you always help them, you ask for their permission to use their pictures, you're always clear about that. And another thing, you never take without giving. There is no exploiting."
"I remember when in 1990 you came in here with two of your students to take pictures. Our stove had just broke', I had no way of cookin' for our children. You didn't ask any questions, you just said, go get you a stove, pick you out one and I'll buy it. You were here to take pictures and helped us out in the mean time. Shelby, you have helped over the years in more ways than you ever imagined - Christmas, Thanksgiving, gas money - you just don't know. Shelby, you not out there exploiting, you showin' the country in these museums and places where you come from. Some people live here the way they live, it's their own choice. Many do. It's not about poverty."
Frankie on Porch, '07
[age 91]
[age 91]
“There are people among us who choose not to embrace modern life. They want to stand on their own two feet. These people won't sell out to get rich, but they don’t really go without. They have their values and principles they were raised by and they think that is worthwhile. The riches and ways of the world don’t matter to them. They are basically Christian people who home school their children mostly, they put their dollar to good use and they help their neighbor. They wouldn’t work at WalMart for 40 hours a week because they wouldn’t want to be exposed to the world of bikinis, video violent games and movies, makeup, and such. They would rather work at home in the mountains for 60 to 70 hours a week and feel closer to God and their own values in life. They grow herbs, raise stock, garden, and work labor jobs like most of us, but more independent. They believe you stay present in the Lord; he doesn’t change. His heart is the same in the past, the present and the future. To stay in the ways of the Lord is to stay away from modern ways for these people. They are a hard workin’, happy and fulfilled people, ain’t grabbin’ for ever nickel they can get.”
"People off from here don't want to see how poor whites live, they not black people lookin' either. We have a lot of millionaires living here now, I don't understand it. I know one thing, since I been puttin' my Lord first for me, I've not really wanted for too much. The Lord provides for my family, and me. He makes a way for us. We not worried about a big lot of money."
"People who come in here with you, taking your hospitality, that you offer. We tried to help them and then they used every bit you gave to turn against you. They speaking evil of you; you don't speak evil of them. They are exploiting you. Why would they want to do that? Envy and strife."
"I've studied the films on TV, the poverty in India, Africa and such. There is more poor in the world than rich. All our forefathers were probably as poor as we come from, maybe worse. They's some people, they get away from home, they change the way they talk. They talk proud, deny there background. Mountain people do that, too. They're ashamed of their background, maybe that's what's the matter. Some are ashamed of their backgrounds and coming against you. You're trying to deal with yours and help yours."
"How else could you help them? You sell pictures, you send back money to the people you deal with, you visit 'em twice a year. Do other photographers do that? They never come back and thank us for our help in their pictures and films, or nothing. You have always kept in touch, visited and helped people. You can put a letter on the Internet to what I say."
Shelby: In my first book, "Appalachian Portraits," 1993, your pictures are published twice. In the same book one family photograph is published of a man who is mentally and physically impaired. Would you comment on that photograph?
Rachel: "You don't hide anything, it's part of your life. You should love a child or family member no matter what his shape. That child needs encouragement. They will get to where they don't care if they live or die without encouragement. Showing them in a book is a way of giving love. They're your blood and you love them regardless of what the world might think. It shows to them and their families they're worthy."
Shelby: So you're OK with being published in a book with a family reflecting some difficulties and you don't feel stereotyped?
Rachel:"That makes me feel proud that Shelby feels enough for them, for other people, regardless of their shape or form. To put their picture in the book shows respect of people regardless of color, race or situation. We don't put down people because they are made different or act different from the rest of us. Jesus healed all peoples. Some people don't understand our culture, they tryin' always to get above us. Down through the ages and years, all peoples come across this, whether they admit it or not. Mountain people are more honest. Yet, half our people bring forth such children and the other half hides it in shame."
Rachel Riddle
Viper
Sara & Fry, '99
[Phyllis's daughter's]
Phyllis Turner interview: Phyllis was a high school photo assistant for me during her high school summer years. I photographed her wedding. She's married with two children attending high school. We have known each other for over 25 years.
Shelby: What do pictures mean to you?
Phyllis: “Pictures represent the past, the future and the hope; the hope of someone dear that’s gone on. You can see them held in pictures. Something you can pass on to future generations so that they will know their ancestors. Because some of us that can’t write or read, we can show pictures and tell stories. Pictures can do more. It’s somethin’ that stands. When their face starts gettin’ blurry from memory, with pictures you can always see them. It always brings back happy memories. There are sad memories, but there are always happy memories. There's times a story comes up from each picture you’ve got. Sometimes the story might be sad or funny. I’ve got somethin’ in pictures. I’ll always be able to cherish. Where we can’t afford pictures, you help us to see how our youngin’s is growing throughout the years, how we grow through the years. How some of us have changed throughout the years. Some got new homes-you show that as well as the old. To me you are photographin’ pride, you're proud of who we are, you're proud of us, you're one of us and you're proud of bein’ with us and you're wantin’ other people to know that were not just someone sittin’ back here like on that show the 'Beverly Hillbillies.' You're proud of us even tho’ you live in Massachusetts.”
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Shelby: Can you speak about my photography in general terms?
Phyllis: “You’re not ashamed of us and we are proud of you. When you are out there in them big cities you're showin’ you are proud of us to, to us. If some weren’t ashamed of their culture so much, they wouldn’t fight you on yours. My youngin’s show your books in their school and library, they're proud to say they know you. My daughter was in NYC on a high school trip five years ago and she saw a book display of your work. It made her proud and she told her friends.”
“We feel your work comes from the heart. You think we would let you through our doors and in our homes when it’s a mess and not so clean, if we thought you were exploiting us? You’re like part of the family. I’ve taken you to meet many mountain families. I couldn’t do that if I thought you were here to ridicule. What ain’t showed by you is just as important as what is. People don’t understand we trust you. My interview was never showed on TV; guess I didn’t say what they wanted me to say. Where is my part in the movie and other people we know? They got people lookin’ at only what they sayin’ and that’s it. They lied to us; same with the Internet. We're poor but we are a proud people. We stand together in times of trouble."
Phyllis Turner
Beehive
Roy, '03Roy Banks Interview: Roy has been a special friend for over 25 years, a country musician, folklorist, hat maker, scout for my photographs and companion who plays music for my subjects, while I’m preparing to photograph.
Shelby: What do pictures mean to you?
Roy: “Pictures shows what it’s been like many years back, and today. It’s really a great thing. You have done things that others would never attempt to do. You love the people, that’s my feelin’. You're tryin’ to do somethin’ for 'em. Capture the spirit of people.”
Shelby: Would you make some additional comments?
Roy: “ I’ve watched you work with people many times. You know how to do it, put people at ease and bring them out. I do that in my music. You got to watch the people and bring them out, in a good way. They’s jealousy by them that want to get ahead of you. They think that they're better than you. They want to accuse you of something to get you to quit what you are a doin'. There is no need of quitin’, when you're doin’ somethin’ good. They’s people that want to discourage you, Shelby. They’s a lot of people like that. They know they can’t do what you're doin’, because our people won't talk to em’. Where you love everybody, those people, you can figure 'em, they don’t care for nobody but themselves. You got to have pay for your work, so you can keep doin’ it."
“The big shots are greedy, jealous. They're afraid you can do things that they can’t do. You goin’ to have some bad people. When I went up North, man they was after me. They ask me if we had any crazy people in Kentucky. I said sure, we handle them people, we send them up here to teach in your schools. They give me a hard time, but I give them a hard time, right back. They don’t think like we do.”
Roy Banks
Slemp
Roy with Paper Hats,'07
Kizzie and Martha, '07Martha and Kizzie Joseph interview: Phyllis Turner introduced me to the Joseph family in 1986. Kizzie [blindwoman] and I became fast friends. My own childhood memories resurface of my grandmother’s struggle with blindness when I was a child. My grandparent's home place and Kizzie’s family home were similar. Visiting with the Joseph family is like revisiting parts of my childhood; it feels anchoring, autobiographical, yet now I visit with my view camera.
Shelby: What do pictures mean to you?
Martha: “Pictures mean a whole lot, when you can see them and not the people; especially the ones gone. They bring back a lot of memories, but they help my feelin’s. They make me feel real good. It brings back more life in my memory when I was growin’ up and they make me feel better. You photographed my Dad before he died. Mother really liked you 'fore she died; brothers Richmond and Charlie, they died. Your pictures remind me of my life, even before I knowed you. When our house burnet’ down last year and you give us another book with our pictures in it, Lord that’s the world of memories in that."
“My mother was brought up in Holiness. They had something we didn’t have. They would get happy [anointed] in the spirit. The Holy Ghost could tell you if things were real and if they weren’t. My mother always thought a lot of you.''
Shelby: What do pictures mean to you?
Kizzie: “Your picture takin’ makes me feel good, it’s nice. You’ve always been a good friend to us. Marthie and me talk about pictures a lot, she gets them out and she talks about them pictures to people and me. It’s good we got pictures of everyone, but sad they're gone.”
Shelby: Kizzie, people who see my pictures of you and know you are blind ask, why do you wear a watch and glasses?
Kizzie: “Wearin’ glasses helps me feel better about myself and I love to hear a watch tick."
Martha and Kizzie Joseph
Wolf Creek
Reed with Pony,'95[Lloyd Deane's Father]
Lloyd Deane Noble interview: Lloyd is the father of 10 children, over 45 grandchildren and 10 or 12 great grandchildren. He is my personal friend who knew my uncle “Doc Adams." His entire family have been my photo subjects since ’89. Many of the Noble photographs were published in my third book and many more are currently in my new book dummy; this family has participated in interviews with "The New York Times" in ’03 for their series, “What were they thinking?” and most recently "The Louisville Courier-Journal," a Summer ’07 article and photo portfolio, among others. I have photographed the Noble family now for four generations; our work continues.
Lloyd Deane with Family & Coal Truck, '02Shelby: Lloyd, we know each other so well, would you care to speak on exploitation around my work?
Lloyd: “Well you not exploitin’ nobody, we just like one big family. That’s the way I look at it. We have been that way since you have been coming down here. I don’t like for nobody to expose on you, to run you down. You’ve got to put money in this camera stuff. You work hard, it costs. The devil persists. You honest to people, you help people, you bring the pictures back and you show 'em to 'em. Give 'em to 'em. I think you’ve done a great job of what you do. Jealousy - that is exactly what it is - jealousy. You a showin' the whole world what you doin', a makin’ these pictures and stuff and helpin’ people and donating to 'em. Nobody has done what your doin’. I’d say it comes from your uncle.”
“I knew your uncle “Doc Adams." He was my friend and doctor. I tell you some'in' on him. He doctored a lot of people and he wouldn’t take a dime. He was good to people, old people and children. That’s one thing, he’s on the side of heaven, has to be. I went to his funeral, I looked at his casket and buddy, it tore me all to pieces. They were over 2,000 people at his funeral. He loved people, just like you do. People want pictures of you in with them, because they love you so good and they want people to know it. You take a jealous person and they ain’t got the love in them enough to realize what love and friendship is with these old mountain people. I drove an 18-wheeler truck for years for miles and miles around this country as a truck driver and I’d get lost. People help you get around, if you’ve got love in your heart."
“You take us old hillbillies, we poor but you don’t pick on the person who is tryin’ to help. You sell pictures to rich people, they must be moved by somethin’. They ain’t goin’ to see our lives no other way! That is important to us. I don’t understand that anything’s wrong."
Shelby: How do you feel about having your family pictures published in my book with others who might have physical and mental disadvantages?
Lloyd: “Well sir, you ought’ to have love and respect to help people. I’m proud of it. We’re all raised in these old mountains and it helps that family to have their pictures in your book. It shows to me and my family, you’ve got love and respect for that family to help them that way. It’s plain as 'A, B, C' if you look at it right. We, too, are a divided people in a way. You have the rich here, the 'locked-up-door' types, and us, who are open, like you who are friendly trying to help the people."
Shelby: Do you think any of my photos are scary as some critics imply?
Lloyd: “They ain’t any scary pictures, as I see it. You look at a picture like them two youngin’s together, I see two children who need more of God’s love and our love. They make me say a prayer and then I turn over to my boy’s pictures and say another prayer of thankfulness. Your pictures make us feel love, prayer and respect. I feel plum' good on both sets of pictures. Shelby, the Lord will bring you out of this.”
Lloyd Deane Noble
Lost Creek
Vanessa, '07[Lloyd Deane's Great Granddaughter]
Published in The New York Times,
Cover - Week in Review - April '08
Published in The New York Times,
Cover - Week in Review - April '08
This Question,'91[Burchal & Son, BJ.]
Burchal Hurt interview: We have known each other since the mid 80s, Hort Collins, religious Zealot, now deceased, was our close friend. We attended Hort’s home church together. Burchal is a father; I have photographed his son BJ growing up for over 20 years. Burchal is a retired school bus driver and currently a security guard for a mining company.
Shelby visits with photo assistant: Burchal, could you say something about our relationship and my photography here in Hooterville?
Burchal: “I’m plain to anybody right to their face: Shelby’s not took a picture in this holler, what I’ve not seen, and I probably have a copy of. I think he’s done real well. From my way of lookin’ at it, places like Hooterville is where they ought to be [filming] puttin’ films on TV today. Maybe others that’s got a lot, could see to help others here “like." The wealthy living on the tops of mountains "like,'' need to see here "like". A poor man can’t get nowhere here. It’s like they don’t see you when it comes to goin’ before a judge to ask for somethin’. It means a lot for me to have pictures Shelby’s made, especially now after so many family and friends have passed. I remember him showin’ me that picture of Hort and Henry prayin’ [The Brother’s Praying,‘93] when their mother was sick. He showed me the Polaroid of it then. He was pleased with it, we all were, and then Mimi died [Hort’s mother]. It seems to me that our times together and friendship is important, with memories together of those now gone is special times. The pictures are second, but the pictures show both.”
Burchal Hurt
Hooterville
Brother's Praying, "93[Hort & Henry Collins]
Seeing
People walk the roads, but they can’t see.
“It’s’’ what anybody’s thinkin’ about, when they see somethin’.
“It’s” only what you thinkin’ is what you see.
Hort Collins
Hooterville
Freddie's Place,'04
Terry Riddle interview: Age 33, Terry and I have known each other since Terry was 9 years old. Father, husband, and church member, he has worked in coal mining most of his life. Terry has traveled with me intermittently in Kentucky. visiting and photo assisting, throughout most of the counties I work.
Shelby: What do you have to say about my work here?
Terry: “You’re showin’ our way of life, We ain’t 'The Clampets' any more. You’ve made yourself clear. People have enjoyed the pictures. People enjoy seein’ you come around, you are more than just a person, and you were and are a friend of the families around here and that is the way they have looked at it and that is the way I look at it. You keep comin' back. You ain’t just tryin’ to make a name for yourself, and you ain’t just a face, just a fly by night. You keep comin' back, that is the most important thing. Year in, year out, you keep comin’ back, that is important to people."
“Your pictures, they are about culture, showing how different people live, how one person is just different than another. You got to learn how to deal with all people. It’s just like black people and white people. You know some racist, they look at it different. Not me, I look at it totally different. That’s what your tryin’ to show people, to me. That’s a part of our church and everything here, in Eastern Kentucky, about God. There’s love and kindness in all things and take a man, as who he is. I’m more accepting of all peoples, denominations in church, races and whatever you want to call it. I see good in all people. I’ve seen your ways, from growin’ up under you; you’re tryin’ to teach people. I’ve watched you. You're showin’ they’s somethin’ good in all of us, as individual people. It don’t take a well knowledged person to understand the feelin’ of love and kindness, when you see it in someone and their works, you feel it.”
Terry Riddle
Lewis Hollow
Darrel and Arch, '07
Darrel and Arch Napier [brother’s] interview: We have known each other since the mid 80s; I have photographed Darrel and Arch, their parents, John and Berthie, and all living brothers and sister. I have photographed three family funerals for the Napier's, met many of their friends and relatives and ate dinner with the family several times.
Shelby: Darrel and Arch, could you say something about our relationship, photographing or whatever you would like to talk about?
Darrel and Arch:
Darrel: "Mommy really enjoyed you coming around, visitin' and takin' pictures, she loved the hog killin’s best. They ain’t no better eatin’. You can’t have no better eatin’. Nothin’ like you buy out of the store."
Arch: “I remember my first en’, I was six years old, somethin’ like that. Somethin’ you never forget. Chitlins, you make you a big tub of boilin’ water, cut your skin off the hog and drop it in. Old people used to call them cracklings."
Darrel: “You ever had hog brains before?”
Darrel and Arch [together]: “You scramble them with eggs and onions, they’re real good! Smoked and salted hams and meats, last for months! Sauce meat, pickled pig’s feet, blood puddin’, and mountain oysters too. Yeah! Mommy played the guitar when we put up hogs. Even the dogs, drink beer on hog killin’ days."
Arch: "People acted like they could run over us', cause we 'Naper’s.' It started with the Lewis’s when I was 10 years old, over in Leslie County. They would steal off of us, dad would pay no mind. We part Cherokee you know, maybe that bothered some. Things got worse over the years. We had to move in here [Beehive]. It’s better now. We've had our houses burn down here, neighbors help build back. I’ve had an interesting life and also a terrible life. I’ve had a lot of bad luck and I’m hopin’ in my senior years, things will be a little smoother. I’ve enjoyed life sometimes along the way. Been married three times and got five children."
Darrel: "You always come see us when you’re in. You always send us something for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Others around here don’t."
Darrel and Arch Napier
Beehive
Hettie and Children,'77
[Children, Homer and Selina]
[Children, Homer and Selina]
The Childer's Family interview: Sophie is the oldest daughter; she is speaking for the family. Our relationship has been ongoing since 1976, evolving and growing. There were nine children in the family, three with disabilities. The openness, the despair, the love and frustrations within this family have been an inspiration and a focus in part of my work.
Sophie: “I left the family when I was 13 to get married, just to get away, if nothing else. That marriage didn’t last. My second marriage to Joe is great. We can talk and share; we’ve had two children together. My family had a hard time, with three of the children the way they were. People didn’t like us. The prejudice in a small rural community can be intense. We moved around a lot. I remember when growin' up as a child, people drove past us and shouted, 'Good-by cruel world, I'm goin' off to see the circus.' I've raised my children to see the love in Homer and Selina, and I'm so glad we have them in our family. My children see that love that can be."
Shelby: How does your family feel about our relationships over the years and what I’m doin’?
Sophie: “We think it’s great. You know the input you’ve had on our family, how you are to Homer, Selina and James [three mentally and physically challenged children]. You treat them like they’re special people, which they are! You’ve been kind to my family; my mom thought the world of you. I know that for a fact. She considered you one of the family and I do, too. I’m proud you came here now! I think the work that you’re doin’ is wonderful."
Shelby: You don’t feel as I’m accused of this, that I’m exploiting your family?
Sophie: “No I don’t believe that. I heard what the mayor of Hazard said on that film, 'That you can find anything you want, if you look under a rock hard enough,' That lady in that film [Louise, green dress], she was embarrassed about where she came from, I really believe that. She didn’t want anybody to know her background, that she was raised hard, had a hard life. That had nothin’ to do with your picture of her sister. There is nothin’ to be embarrassed of; your roots are something to be proud of, I think. There is somethin’ in there to be proud of, no matter what! I got a lot of Mom in me. I’m proud of that, how I see people. I want to treat people better. But no, I don’t think you're exploiting anybody. I think you need to keep doin’ what you're doin’. I am very proud to know you. I hope you keep showin' my family's pictures. They need to be seen. Your visits to people's homes brings them happiness and recognition that they never had. Others must be envious because the same doors are not open to them."
Shelby: Thank you. Something drew us together a long time ago, your family became my family. Because of your family’s total open acceptance of me, they allowed me to work on my photography and creative vision in the middle of their lives, playin’ with the kids, whenever I came. I tried hard to validate the children’s lives.
Sophie: “Shelby, my heart opened to you when at my mother’s funeral in 1989, you had sent two baskets of flowers. There was hardly anything there, in the church. The funeral home had used a stock dress to put mom in. Your flowers meant a lot.”
“I think as long as you can be with somebody, it helps them; talkin’ and takin’ pictures, is your way. When I used to go to restaurants, I’d feel ashamed. I felt like people could look inside of me and see something wrong. Now, I feel free of that. You’ve helped my family with that too.”
Sophie Childers
Columbus
Barwick,'03
Artist Statement - From the Inside.The thing that has kept me returning all these years is the people’s openness, honesty and acceptance of me; we have genuine friendships that bring forth our inner selves. If my portraits are seamless, honest and direct - which is what I strive for - they will capture and reflect back some of what the world has put upon these people or taken from them. That is very much one purpose of the work, to confront you with what they must bear, have transcended or share with you what's lost.
"The human face never lies. It is the only map that records all the territories where we have lived."
Luis Sepulveda
I believe portraiture can communicate experiences, feelings and emotions not consciously recognized by the subject, yet transferred to you the viewer when the photograph is studied, you may simultaneously not be equally aware of your own feelings and emotions. There is no evasiveness of truth established; rather a compassionate reference is intended for communication.
“All true Art must help the soul to realize its inner self.”
Mahatma Gandhi
The unacknowledged person living in the head of the holler is important; many of my subjects have never had any social recognition during their entire lifetimes. They are hungry, primal open communicants. My subjects and their families appreciate and treasure their photographs. This insider recognition and validation is powerful, it has assured my long-term work. Further, it is the most rewarding.
My work is complicated. I work in different modes and states of mind. Much is straightforward documentary; other times I work with preconceived, previsualized cultural memories, childhood experiences; and psychological understandings. Inspirational images and ideas from other artist and writers contribute much; my subjects bring material and ideas of their own. There already exists the bonding from the basic community service photography, its longevity and familiarity of 34 years contributes greatly. Last, there is life itself; as a field worker you must always be open to what is going on in the moment, delicately incorporating spontaneously.
Relationships attest to trust, the truth comes from trust; the truth, in the case of my photographs, comes in the giving of very personal images. The family’s history, the culture's representations are deepened by authentic friendships. People are open to giving, whether it be a meal shared or a private image, if they know you personally, not simply as a portrait maker. A stranger with a camera may have been introduced by a social worker, for example. They photograph an objective condition, without knowing the person or situation in front of the lens. That is the kind of representation of which there is a long history, that I’m struggling against.
Clever photographers can usually coax their subjects into being photographed, one way or another, but it is better to let people come forward on their own and in their own way. We are then photographing an engaged human being and not just the shell of an objective document. Dr. Mark Nowaczynski, a physician, photographer and friend, has written that my approach demonstrates "continuity of care," like that of a doctor making house calls, something I experienced first hand when traveling throughout the hollers with my uncle, Doc Adams. Within real friendship people open from the inside, especially in the hollers. Someone else has said that in making images I practice “reciprocal altruism,” which is close to how I describe my approach as both participant and observer.
“We must be able to let things happen in the psyche. For us, this is an art of which most people know nothing. Consciousness is forever interfering, helping, correcting, and negating, never leaving the psychic processes to grow in peace.”
Meister Eckhart
“ The documentary photograph, the literal image, is the ultimate illusion, the hopeless illusion, the dangerous illusion because the documentary perpetrates the illusion that life itself is the only reality. The documentary obscures metaphysic, the science of the real. The truth is…photography is the grand illusion. Let the camera metamorphose and in exercising its transforming power be true to itself.”
Minor White
photographer, editor Aperture, writer, teacher
Today we live in a world of cynics and critics who doubt everything; cleverness overpowers creativity, devaluation crowds out acceptance and fragmentation prevails over wholeness. The delicate fragility of the humanity I work with is not geographically limited to just Appalachia. My people, what they live and speak can be found in so many parts of the world. Many want to see only “The Best of Us," when we really need to look, feel and love the “All of Us."
Man looks at the outside but the Lord looks at the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7
Shelby Lee Adams
January 2008
"Mountain Voices" Recorded Oct. 2007
"All of Us"
an essay by
Shelby Lee Adams
Revised Dec. '07
"Self-Portrait with Grandma, '74"
"Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity."[1.]
Pema Chodron
From the onset of my photography in the 1970's, my experience has been that the larger national population has always viewed Appalachia as a region in transition, not backwards. We Appalachians sometimes think we are viewed more backward than the world actually sees us. Today this diverse mountain range holds many modern developments and yet still embraces many pockets of isolated mountaineers. Much new media attention has freed up the culture from old Hollywood and news stereotypes. For me, as a native, focusing on the people in the hollows, seems relevant, therein lies the old foundational culture we all come from. This is the world that is changing and disappearing. Many outsiders without depth of commitment or understanding have documented the area. My opportunity is to make photographs from an insider's perspective with real, established relationships. Trained as a fine arts photographer, I have no political or social bias to entertain, choosing instead to diligently and openly explore my roots, family, people and myself. Now, with more than 34 years invested in one concentrated body of work, the work itself feels complete, but never ending.
This work is a study to be felt. It does speak to you, if not directly, indirectly, more intuitively than in a conscious sense. This is a feeling culture: its people live with memory and spirits of times past. Having the freedom to feel leads to fearless honesty: expressing emotions directly, where others do not, creating volatility and changes at times yet, leading to staying power, never leaving one's family or place. Faith is important. Jesus says: "Behold, I stay with you always." Some live with hurt and retribution. They think of the future with uncertainty. Analytic dialogue and planning are not the norm here. This is difficult for some to understand. My work explores both internal and external representation, with more emphasis on the inner processes.
I have an open easy rapport with so much and so many. The camera sees objectively, outwardly, we are taught. This is the obvious. The view camera became my specific tool in 1974; early on my subjects responded to it with ease and curiosity. They could see themselves mirrored back within the camera's lens; this helped engage and create a sense of timeless reflection. We could see together and view the 4x5 inch Polaroids instantly. Right away in the field, my subjects and I created a participant/observer relationship. The cultural dialogue already existed: I was from there and accepted. To direct the camera more inwardly seemed natural. Multiple photography sessions from years of making portraits with the same families leads to multiple perspectives, creating self-archetypes that resonate and express the inner persona of the subject, their families and the photographer.
Photographer sharing Polaroid with Childer's Family, '05
Photographer Oestervang
When my friend and subject Selina [a mentally and physically challenged child], first told me, "I Love You", while photographing her with the helpful interpretation of her mother, I was profoundly touched. That was in 1978, I then decided to dedicate a part of my time to working with the mentally challenged.
That experience moved my consciousness and spirit to communicate with people in different ways, to try and help facilitate more human communication; to give recognition to my subjects and their families, where there was none. Another motivation and a powerful one, probably where it all began: my mother suffered from mental illness and my uncle Arlie, a doctor, lost his ability to practice because of his mental illness. Both shared so much insight with me as a child, yet something was askew. I wanted to understand more about this abstract world and learn to communicate in these unclear waters. Now I feel this part of my work is a gift.
From the beginning, I never felt the need to use photography to implement change. Certainly not change in the way documentary photography had served us before. This response comes from growing up in Kentucky and seeing how documentary/sociological photography hurt my people. During "The War on Poverty" era, I saw my people shamed by much of the media exposure. When collecting model releases in 1992 for my first books publication, several people said, please don't write about us living in poverty. I have always honored and understood this request. But, change is an enviable desire. Any serious artist or writer wants to search and establish ways to affect his viewer, develop an audience and achieve some recognition. The change I desire with my work is more about discovering and recognizing internal portrait communications universally; to develop a psychological understanding of how we are all wired and evolving. Making a photograph that communicates through us, in an intuitive, feeling way, opens our hearts to compassion, establishing catharsis. We begin to heal through the recognition that much of the prejudice, devaluation and our own low self-esteem begins in the hollers. By studying our people's roots with reverence, we penetrate and go beyond the surface of the photographs without moralizing.
Donnie and Aunt Sally, '04
For some challenged isolated people, communication is not easy, not linear, but more undefined. They need to be lovingly befriended and encouraged. Their difficulty and hunger to communicate both attracts and challenges. Parents know and learn intuitively how to work with disadvantaged children's limitations. To photograph these people is a healing recognition and acknowledgement for the subject and family; hopefully this communicates something to you the viewer. That is the challenge, to soften your resistance and open your perceptions positively to others with less communication opportunities."We are all of us simultaneously in and out of our own imagined scenarios, depending on who sees us, whenever we venture into the world." [2.]
Max Kozloff
"The Theatre of the Face"
If I've learned anything from doing this work, it is that we cannot change anyone, except perhaps ourselves. To change oneself is difficult, even painful. To open new internal perspectives, different ideas, alter, exchange, or modify is all-transformative. Change is hard, no matter what cultural background you come from, especially when one lives in an area where there are less opportunities. Today, in Appalachia limited opportunities for holler dwellers are caused more by internal insecure cultural attitudes than lack of programs. But, one person's positive transmutation affects their family, and that family can contagiously affect the holler they live in and on to the larger community. To overcome resistance in all directions is a goal. We create resentments through forced implemented change, damaging and destroying culture and its people. Photography, art, music and religion are all examples of tools that give us keys to opening our creative life experiences, which inspire us to be stronger, fuller, more understanding human beings. It begins, by accepting, supporting and studying our authentic holler dwellers first and moving forward.
"In order to embrace and identify common aspirations that define the core values of a society we must look at the edges to help construct that reality. We fear the unknown, we criticize new ideas, we are skeptical of other people and other cultures, and we resist change in the process of locating our zone of comfort."[3.]
Jeffrey Hoone
I have never questioned my people about their reasons for living or doing what they do. It is not my intentions to judge. It is best to spend time with people and let them direct the conversations. Portraits evolve because families share what is happening at a particular time and place. For example, to be able to photograph a willing subject, just after or during a specific tragedy or blessing, is phenomenal. Be that the birth of a new baby, the death of a loved one or a religious transformation. Time is an integral part of the process. Events bring out the unguarded inner person and cultural understanding is critical to working within this matrix.
Hazel and Mimie,'05
[twins]
[twins]
Stories and secrets have always existed in my family's life that I could not tell, as my relationships grew with my people, we discovered such secrets also existed for many of them. We share this discrepancy, more resonance is established and echoed. Some things can't be said, not with camera, not with words, not without harsh consequences. This has contributed to how I construct, light and compose certain pictures. You want to put it all in the picture, even the secrets. You must protect the living even after death. It is complex, this method of feeling communication. I sometimes wish I were a fiction writer, thinking maybe that would be easier. I long for and need the full story for my understanding, but much information is confidental between my subjects and myself. Nothing is withheld between photographer and subject. This shared life knowledge makes for more expressive, more confident portraiture. Ironically, the shunned are the ones that want exposure the most, perhaps because a community voice doesn't exist for them. Most are trusting, sensitive and loving human beings. When they sign a model release, some say, "You know what is best." I am responsible now for how I present their pictures and words. Many visits follow with photographs, layouts and text in hand. It is this process of visiting, sharing and acknowledging that pleases them the most. It is respectful and so few get visitors. This is my lifetime commitment and integrity is so important. I feel, I am, in a way, charting unknown waters under the guise of documentary.
Homer, '77[Detail of Eyes]
What we have in an authentic photographic relationship is an accepted container of understanding and expression, not a prearranged negotiation. The photographic portrait making then becomes a merger in which both the subject and photographer become one to present something more whole and complete to you the viewer.
It is important to communicate to my viewer the consequences and resiliency of the lives lived. Portraiture carries this. Some of my subjects have had amazing life experiences: they are heroes. To open others' minds, hearts and bodies to travel within this world is the goal. To find our common interconnectedness, some must see their own shadows first. In psychology, the word "affect"[4.] is used to describe certain re-occurring unconscious experiences. Certain childhood experiences remain dormant in our unconscious for our life times, but can resurface momentarily at the viewing of a particular photograph. For some, this brings about emotional reactions apart from the photograph seen. This makes the viewing experience difficult to comprehend and understand. Is not one benefit of the photographic arts today to bring forth these unconscious impulses [blind spots] to help the viewer reintegrate, overcome frozen fears and merge into a fuller humanness? This experience when one allows it affirms more of the subject photographed, and vice versa. Integration and wholeness can be achieved, but it is a volatile process. Multiple engagements with the photographs may be necessary by the viewer, just as multiple visits and photographic sessions are necessary for the subject to give revealing portraits. This has been a learned and richly rewarding process for me. So much of contemporary portraiture today denies us this very important engagement.
"We must get beyond our stereotyping histories and fears of misrepresenting poor Appalachian culture as, all of us: when in fact, this work really is about "All of Us" in the broadest sense. We all need to perceive ourselves more clearly interconnected, internally, humanily and less defensively."
We need to bare our vulnerability. That is what my subjects are doing. We can learn much from each other in this multicultural age, just by looking, staying with, and meditating on that portrait before us. I have not shied away from what and who have been presented to me. Only an insider could share in this world and I've worked with that knowledge all along. Indeed, understanding my place within this culture has been part of my motivation. Seeing with mutual vulnerability helps break down barriers. The human imagination contains great healing balms and if the depths are stirred, the images stay with us, hopefully deepening and strengthening our character. We must make the effort.
"A human being is a part of the whole that we call the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness. This illusion is a prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only the few people nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature." [5.]
Albert Einstein
With photography, as I further explore truth and reality within this living environment, my experience has shown me that a lot of contradictions and distortions happen in the middle of living life. That accurate heightened visual awareness sometimes is experienced as falling through reality or perhaps being thrown or uplifted. My field work has led me through many exciting, challenging and even distorted experiences, that stretch ones visual comprehension. That edge is humbling and part of my vision and reality. "The ability to experience reality directly increases in direct proportion, as our own self - importance diminishes." [6.] We need to see that we have abused our land and nature, and our own humankind by denying our natural commonality. I'm reminded and inspired by the artistic and spiritual visions of the artist El Greco. We all see with differing eyes.
I want to free us from traditional conventions by staying within them. The archetypes of photography are strong within this genre; it is my intentions to work from the inside outward in experiencing our humanity. My people open and share in ways not seen before; I challenge the viewer to look within this world with new sensitivities. In Kentucky we discuss serious spiritual experiences and visions along with drunken driving and hunting stories, all in the same visit, all with seriousness and humor. These talks influence future photographs. As the Buddhists say, "Experience all as a dream." My friend Buford Kiser from Pistol City said as an example, "I have two dogs within me, one is black and the other white. There is always a gnashing of teeth.'' A yin/yang metaphor I'm certain Buford never realized, yet experienced. My photographs are made within a heightened spirit of reality, intensely stylized sometimes, yet serious, and executed with light heartedness, not obvious distortion.
Linda, '81
Hardburly Porch,'04
George's Branch Porch, '91
"It may well be beyond 'All of Us,' the kind of political and economic change that is needed here. Only the Lord - that's what you're saying - only he can do it. I hope he will. I hope it's not only up to him, though." [7.]
Robert F. Kennedy
Shelby Lee Adams
Revised
December 2007
Footnotes:
[1.] Perma Chodron, The Places That Scare You, Shambhala, Boston, MA 2002
[2.] Max Kozloff, The Theatre of the Face, Portrait Photography Since 1900, Phaidon, London, 2007
[3.] Jeffrey Hoone, Contact Sheet, # 142, Syracuse, NY, 2007
[4.] Donald Kalsched, The Inner World of Trauma, Routledge, London, 1996. "Affect" usually refers to dissociation, splitting off, one cannot process uncomfortable unresolved conflicts, past suppressed experiences & destructive behavior patterns without conscious recognition.
Photographs can and do trigger unconscious experiences. Viewers of exhibitions can have volatile feelings confronting certain images directly. Most of my subjects have already shared and recalled their experiences and are reflecting on and projecting that experience at the moment of making their portrait. Important to note, this kind of experience can also be a felt blissful positive recall, sometimes simultaneously. SLA.
[5.] Albert Einstein, The Enlightened Mind, HarperCollins Publishers,
Stephen Mitchell, editor, NYC, NY, 1991, page 191.
[6.] Jose A. Arguelles, The Transformative Vision, Reflections on the Nature and History of Human Expression, 1975, Shambhala, Boulder
[7.] Cynthia M. Duncan, Worlds Apart, Foreword Robert Coles, Robert F. Kennedy quote, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1999, foreword x-xi.
Labels: Essay "All of Us".
posted by Shelby Lee Adams at
12:31 PM
