I grew up in Little Rock, during the era of efforts to integrate Central High School. My parents were middle-american activists who participated fully in these struggles. At college I met activist coastal intellectuals and became enmeshed in struggles against the Vietnam War and for Black Liberation. I was drafted into the US Army and served two years as a private along the Iron Curtain. During my teens and twenties, I developed a belief in a “preferential option for the poor.” As an adult I have engaged in activities along this trajectory as a union and civil rights lawyer in the South. During middle age I went back to school, as I felt a need to analyze my experiences. After this study, I participated in academia, including serving as a Fellow in Ethics at Harvard University and a Visiting Scholar at CUNY.
My art comes from my life experiences. I try to maintain an unflinchingly frank and honest view of what I see, and practice compassion to those who navigate in their reality. I have been a writer for several decades and currently create in photography and collage. Like Elaine Scary, I believe in the connection between beauty and justice. I make art from what I am doing, and from what I see when I am wandering and wondering. As my inspiration and materials come directly from my work life, my practice could be described as participatory action art, building on theories of Paolo Freire.
The Complicated Life of a Veteran, Four Collage Set. Found Materials, printed photographs on paper, cardboard, tape, glue.
The Nightmare of the Materialistic Attitude, Collage. Found Materials, printed photographs on paper, cardboard, tape, glue.
Strong Southern Women Woodworkers, Collage. Found Materials, printed photographs on paper, cardboard, tape, glue.
Whose Breath Gets Taken Away?, Collage. Found Materials, printed photographs on paper, cardboard, tape, glue.
