well didnt this post get complicated
i started off with intent to give my two
favorite photographers some promotional space
which i do occasionally
trying to help them sell some work
and give them well deserved props
then i thought about giving my homeboy
george hunt some props while i was at it
which led to giving memphis elder ernest withers some
props too and what w/links and samples of their works
it ended up a full post
bob and chester i do regular
guess i will add babas hunt and withers to that
dont know what to say about them
i love their work and will let it speak
for itself,
first one of bobs, hes
got so many extraordinary works
i didnt know which one to choose
bob got that special eye that sees
the extraordinary in everything
but hey, best you go see for youself
and then there is chester higgens
what can you say about chester higgins
except that he is one of the most profound
chroniclers of black world images ever
and in particular its spiritworld
chester higgins is deep
and everytime i go on chesters site
its more primetime than ever
he must have somebody working
on that site, otherwise he wouldnt
have time to take photos in the
first place, the site itself is a
work of art
then i thought while im at it i might as
well give my homeboy georgehunt
some props,
me and george been
talking about doing projects
together for ever, we were
going to do cleveland lees beale st band
together but the company
couldnt deal with georges style
anybody from memphis will recognize this
one as being from the infamous garbage strike
that brought martin luther king to his death
at the lorraine motel
which reminded me a a famous photo from
another great memphis visual artist
photographer ernest withers, an old lion of the struggle
one of the great chroniclers of the civilrights movement
i saw him last time i was home, still getting around good
with his trademark kufi on his head, asking about my mama
of his most famous photos used that same sign and strikers
standing on the frontlines that brings chills to my spine
everytime i see it
this was the struggle that turned me out
we had always been engaged cause my mama was a racewoman
and dragged us along to marches and sitins and everything
but this struggle was when it got personal
this campaign and the death of king
was the battle that enlisted me in the movement and i been
a warrior in the struggle ever since
my life of struggle has been an ongoing growth process
i have sometimes zigged when i should have zagged and
often stumbled but by oguns beard ima live and die a warrior
everything i do, every word i forge is an
instrument of struggle - in the tradition
of my artistic elders - babas hunt and whithers
and like babas hunt and withers
ima a memphis artist to the bone
representing best i can - the delta is my home
me and george been talking about doing a
beale street work for the longest, i do stories
to go along with some of his paintings
but thats going to take forever
to do stories of a caliber his
paintings will require
we also got this childrens piece on
afroam folklore in the pot waiting for when we get the time
to put that in play,
in fact just thinking
about it i think i will send that draft
on off to george today
this image is the one he let me
use for mojo rising
memphis hoodooman is
what he calls this one . . . .
thats my homeboy
problem with doing projects with him
is that hes even more diffident than i am
i always have to convince him
george, lets do this man, lets go ahead
and do it
he always says yes, but still i have to work him
cause if you handle him wrong he will tell you
to kiss his creative
thats what happend with troll press on our
childrens book
they didnt like what he was doing and he
told them to go to hell
but hes susceptible to my collaborative initatives
cause i come to him correct
i think of myself as a pathblazer
when it comes to being a black memphis artist
but george was out there when it was really
a leap of faith
people think im antisocial and
stand offish but george is even
worse, whenever im in memphis
i defer to him as one of my
hometown elders
he does dont bother me im busy
much better than i do
Comments