Working With A Sheroe: Alice Walker

Last week, I was contacted to photograph one of my favorite artists… ALICE WALKER.

Needless to say, I was very excited & totally looking forward to the opportunity.

Fast forward to the day of the event… I woke up feeling very bad, horrible, like death was upon me. It was strange because it just hit me out of nowhere. How could this be happening on such a big day….

It took a while to pull myself together and I rushed to get out of the door with all kinds of bags in tow only feeling slightly better….

Now…, I’m on the job setting up my camera and guess what… I left all of my memory cards at home. BUMMER… What was I going to do at the last minute other than panic. Then I noticed that I had another camera in my bag, which hadn’t been used in at least 2 years and it had a memory card ready to go for… A much needed surprise!!!!

After all of this Ms. Walker entered the room and I was awestruck but composed… I introduced myself & sucked in as much as I could from her.

I’ll cherish this exchange forever:
Me: Ms. Walker, give me a little more leg.
Ms. Walker: Just one moment. (Positions leg and lifts skirt a little)

In response to her creative process…
“I don’t allow anything into my mental and spiritual space that I don’t want.”

In response to what she thinks the Black community needs…
“The Black community needs more imagination.”
“Turn off your TV and the images that tell you who you are and what you should be.”
“Hang on to your books. All of your books.”

Interesting Alice Walker Fact:
The first thing Alice Walker saw on television was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. being arrested.

Yesterday was everything I needed as a person & as an artist! And I got my book signed. Ha! The little things in life.