OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, August 1, 6-8 pm

Finding Positive in the Negatives

My dad’s life was full of chasing and shaping the light surrounding us and within us. Now, dementia is stealing his light. Slowly. Cruelly. 

We grew up with tall tales of him spending time with Muhammad Ali, Johnny Cash, Walter Cronkite, President Carter, and thousands of others who reveal our shared humanity. I wondered how much was lore vs reality. Enlarging a fraction of his treasured 35mm negatives from 20 years of photojournalism reveals his pursuit of truth, equality, integrity, empathy, and grace. It’s astonishing how little and how much has changed from our analog to digital age.

This project started as a collaboration to bond together in the darkroom before his light fades. We had one beautiful day together, before he moved to memory care. It’s now a gift, to honor his first career, before he became a pastor, civil rights advocate, and chaplain, where he sat with people in their brightest and darkest times, “on the other side of the lens.” This is one of the greatest gifts a son could ever ask for — seeing the world through his father’s eyes. When memories float adrift, rudderless into the unknown, I find the positive in the negatives.