Photographer Shelby Lee Adams spoke during convocation Wednesday, Nov. 18 at Adrian College. (Photo by Sarah Miller)
Garin Horner, assistant professor of art and design, introduced Adams by explaining how he came to be at AC. Horner met Adams at Photostock during the summer, when the men had the opportunity to have lunch together. During this encounter, Adams said something very interesting to Horner. He said he was making a photograph, not taking a photograph.
“The making a photograph implies a collaboration,” Horner said.
And collaborating is what Adams does, in more ways than one. Adams works with the people who live in the Appalachian Mountains in eastern Kentucky, in what Adams calls the Hollows or “Hollers.”
Adams said he photographs these people in the places they’ll be most comfortable because that’s where they’ll be the most natural.
“In the (1980s) I started asking people where they’d like to be photographed,” Adams said. Of course, according to him, they always chose locations where the lighting was really bad which made is necessary for him to begin using natural lighting and strobe lighting in conjunction with each other.
Adams said he never photographs people without getting to know them first. To do otherwise would be a social taboo as well as exceptionally rude. He also connects with people through their own social networks.
“We’re a formal people and like to be asked,” Adams said.
Instead of taking payment for his pictures, which people have offered, Adams asks his subjects to introduce them to their neighbors.
According to Adams, his uncle was the one who taught him how things worked among the mountain people. His uncle was a doctor who had a set price for every service, from delivering babies to general checkups. If people couldn’t pay the price he charged, Adams’ uncle was willing to take food or services like mowing his lawn or painting his garage.
Adams said the people in the Appalachians don’t like to accept handouts because so-called free handouts always come with a price tag, even if the giver doesn’t mean for one to be attached.
An example of this is when people from churches and organizations come to fix up a person’s house without finding out whether they own the property first. When they fix up the house, the landlord might start charging more rent, which the person occupying the house might not be able to pay.
According to Carissa Massey, assistant professor of art history, the people in the Appalachians do not choose to be poor. Even when they own land, they only own what’s on the surface. The mineral rights belong to other people and companies who resort to blast mining to get to the minerals under the surface. This type of mining destroys the land and causes large amounts of pollution, Massey said.
Because of this type of treatment, people in the Appalachians also don’t trust government representatives. According to Adams, the people in charge of programs that provide government aid hold it over their heads and constantly threaten to stop their payments and take away their children.
His uncle also told Adams not to flaunt his degrees. The mountain people would care more about the fact that Adams was once time a college professor, and who he is related to.
Another thing Adams touched on was the view of the mountain people as second-class citizens. They are often looked over or dismissed by people with a need to keep them in their place, Adams said.
“Contemporary art is about the language and discourse,” Massey said. According to her, a person has to be careful when criticizing art like his. To understand works like Adams’ pieces, a person has to know about Adam’s intention and process.
Massey also said Adams’ work is controversial. There are arguments that say he is trying to celebrate the culture of the Appalachian people, but there are other arguments that assert Adams is ding more harm than good.
“I think the subject matter was interesting,” senior Ashlee Hill said.
Hill said she’ll have to defend her senior art exhibit next semester and it was good to see how Adams addressed his works and the choices he made in his works.
“It was interesting to see how he defended what he took photos of,” Hill said.