POV

-What do you you think photography can do that nothing else can do? -Bring back memories.

Birds chirping

Indistinct conversations

-When I was just out of college, I went to Appalachia to live and work. At first, I was making portraits with a large-format camera, but eventually I began teaching photography to children in the small schools around me. -I can see myself in there. -From their stories and photographs, we created a book called "Portraits and Dreams." How are you doing? -Alright. -Good. Many of my former students started contacting me. I decided to go back to Kentucky to see them and their families. Oh, this one. This is it. Yeah, see? -Mm-hmm. -Yeah. And this is Kim Akemon here. I wanted to understand how the work we had done together affected all of our lives. I arrived in Kentucky in February of 1975 and rented a small house on Ingram's Creek. It was one of the most remote and beautiful hollers in Letcher County.

Horse snorting

No outsiders had lived there before. I learned so much from my neighbors about making things and growing things, and about the roles that women, men, and children played in their families. I loved living there and photographing, but I wanted my pictures to go deeper than the surface of a photograph.

Children laughing, shouting

Shouting continues

Bell ringing

In the autumn, I began teaching photography to the fourth grade class at Campbell's Branch Elementary School. I was warned by their teacher that these students were difficult. As it turned out, they were the most talented and dedicated group I worked with. I started teaching children really close to the time I started taking pictures myself. I really see it as a collaborative experience. They're just like any artist -- you know, as long as they have enough encouragement and time to work out their ideas. -Ooh, that's nice, too. -And that's really the basis of teaching. Having a camera gives anyone power, but particularly children. My students learned how to develop and print their own pictures, something very few people knew how to do then. I gave them assignments -- self-portraits, dreams, family portraits. I encouraged them to photograph the things that were closest to them. When I asked them to photograph their dreams or fantasies, it opened a whole new way of making pictures for them, and they were very excited. Right away, their first photographs had a raw power that I hadn't seen before. I began to understand that we could merge the subject and the photographer, and make pictures in a new way.

Children speaking indistinctly

Okay, this is a book that's called "The Dream Collector," and the photographer who did it is Arthur Tress. And it's -- he went around to the children he knew and asked them to tell him their dreams. And then he acted them out. Use your imagination. Sometimes you have daydreams, right? So, anything that you can imagine, either something that you really dream or something that you just think about and imagine. I want you to take a whole roll of pictures of your dreams. -Russell Akemon and his sister, Kim, lived with their grandmother Redallis, and that's where all their photographs were made. Their grandmother's farm sat below the road in the little holler. The composition of their photographs sometimes mirrored the natural balance and playfulness of the landscape.

Birds chirping

Camera shutter clicks

Film advance winding

-Look, look, she's taking it. -So, I was just looking through some of my grandma's photos this morning, and there was a box, and the box had 'em in it. And I didn't even know they were here. This must've been when we first started taking pictures, 'cause Russell looks so young there. I remember us, like, being down there, and, like, every picture that I took of him, it was under his direction. -Okay, okay. -

Laughs

It wasn't me telling him what to do -- it was under his direction. And notice there's not any of him taken of me? -Yeah. -

Laughs

-

Laughing

Yes, I had noticed that. Why do you think you're good? -I take good pictures. I can do that all day and not quit. -Why? -My natural habitat, I guess.

Metal jiggling

Velcro tears

-As a young man, Russell worked his way up in the local power company, so he was always successful economically.

Indistinct conversations

-Did you see these pictures? -I've seen this one. I haven't seen that one. Maybe once. -Yeah, see, now, those are just great pictures. -You had that horse blood in you, didn't you?

Laughter

-It's a famous book. -Really? -Mm-hmm. -Oh, wow! That's great! -Yeah. -So, that's really good for you, huh? -

Laughs

-It doesn't hurt, but it's really good for you guys. -I mean, it's... -You are famous, then. -Well, you guys are, too, is what I'm trying to say. -I never believed him. -I kept trying to tell her, and she wouldn't believe me. I told her I was famous. -Look at that, Russ. -Huh. Well, that was the first of my kids I'd ever watched being born. -That's intense. -Yeah. -People don't normally take pictures like this. -Yeah. Now there's when he's first opened his eyes, right there, and they actually rub Vaseline and stuff in their eyes. I mean, they go through a lot when they're born. -Mm-hmm. -Well, look at that one right there of him kissing a horse. -Yeah, isn't that great? -Yes. I mean, you can't even plan for stuff like that. -No. Unh-unh. Russell started taking pictures in the fourth grade and didn't stop until after the seventh grade. I taught him how to use a medium-format camera, but Russell was skipping photography class. He would say, "I'll come in a minute," and never show up. I remember you talking about wanting to be a photographer. -Yeah. -

Laughs

I mean, most kids -- -Childhood dreams.

Laughter

-And? -And then you grow up and start working. -Whoa. -Be careful. -You on there? -Come on this side.

Horse snorts

-Turn around and look off this way.

Boy whines

-Alright. Here, let her take your picture.

Horse whinnying

-Evan, look.

Camera shutter clicks

Good one! Good job! -Why were you living at your grandmother's? -My mom, she was in and out of relationships all the time, so... -We were over there, what, two days ago? -At Granny's? -Yeah. -Really? -Yeah. -I haven't been back since she passed. -Haven't you? -Unh-unh. -You know, I could be in there for a week, you know, photographing all those things. -Really? -I mean, the way she put everything up. -Uh-huh.

Camera clicking

-In the communities of Eastern Kentucky, photographs were the only decoration on the walls of people's homes. They were taken to the local drugstore or by itinerant photographers and then collaged into family albums. Maybe it's this reverence for pictures that made the photographs taken by my students so extraordinary. But the children were already keen observers. Their parents had taught them respect for their surroundings. They watched the seasons change, the crops grow, the animals being born and slaughtered. And when the boys went hunting, they sat listening for signs of nearby animals. Life on Campbell's Branch was intimate, quiet, and strongly independent.

Birds chirping

What do you think they learn from what's in the pictures? -I dunno. Probably learn about nature and all that, other people, Yeah. Like my family, your family. -Yeah. -Delbert Shepherd acted like a very old kid in the fourth grade. He loved to take pictures. Even as a kid, he thought about what his pictures would mean to him later in life. There you guys are, looking at the pictures. -That's my mom and my dad. Basically, three years there, we were together every day. And most of the time, on the weekends, too, we was out running around doing things. And it -- it just meant so much. And my dad even asked me one time, he said, "Whatever happened to that woman that used to take pictures with you all?" you know? "Is she still around?" I was like, "Dad, I ain't seen or heard from her since school, you know?" Pictures, to me -- it helps you hold onto your memories. Being able to pull back the good memories and let go of the bad ones.

Laughs

-When Delbert left school, he went to North Carolina, where his brothers were living. -I got the opportunity to stay out of the mines, so that's what I done. I was actually on a processing line at a chicken plant, Holly Farms. And I stand there cutting chicken wings -- you know, taking a knife, just grab 'em between your fingers and just ch-ch-ch, you know? And I was like, daggone, they paying me, you know, $6 or something an hour to stand here? I'd be making $5.25 in the coal mines, crawling around on my hands and knees, you know? -He got married and had two daughters. But after his parents died, he decided to go back to the family homeplace alone. He was trying to fix it up, but there were few prospects for work. -How's that look? That look level? -Yeah. -Back home, it was always hard, because most times you only had the one income, and it wasn't a whole lot of money and everything was so expensive. We couldn't afford a whole lot, but we managed, and the love is what makes everything happy. -Mm-hmm. -This gives it more of a homey look now. -Absolutely. You're surrounded by your family again. -Yup. It feels more like home. -

Laughs

-Maybe I won't be so lonely.

Laughs

-Yeah, yeah! - Oft my thoughts drift back to childhood To the time when I was free As I played... -Music and photography became his way back into the community. - 'Round my darling mother's knee -He now photographs the traditional activities he's involved in. But when people get together and party, he photographs that, as well. - My loved ones wait for me I saw Mother in a vision Kneeling there to pray for me

Applause

Started off too high there.

Chuckles

Indistinct conversations

Really, really enjoy seeing this stuff again, you know. It sort of picked up my spirits again.

Laughs

When we was developing our films and printing our own pictures, that was, you know, a thing that we were doing and nobody else was doing for us. And that meant a lot, to say, "Hey, I took this picture, I developed it, and I printed it," you know. -For me, it was a very special time. I mean, it started me on a way of working for the rest of my life. -Right. -You know? It was incredibly important. -I'm thankful for the little things -- just, like, taking the pictures and stuff -- it taught me the meaning of life and that there was no boundaries to what we could do and couldn't do. It's whatever we set our mind to. -No, no. Darlene's gonna go into the darkroom. Who's gonna work on the story, putting together a new story? -Me. -You, Russ? -All of us are... -And who else? When Robert Dean was 11 years old, I encouraged him and everyone in the photography class to keep a diary. He had written beautiful passages, but there were few spaces between the words, and he spelled most of them phonetically. He worked with me for three years, but because he was dyslexic, he had a hard time reading and no one could read what he was writing. He eventually went to work in the coal mines. He got married and had two kids and had a stable life. So, how does it feel to be a grandfather? -Oh, I love it. -Yeah. -'Cause I love kids anyway, you know. -Yeah. -Just a little bit there... -It's his new career. -Well, I had a good teacher, too, though.

Laughter

Yeah, you come look and see what you think about this. -Yeah, okay. Coming.

Camera shutter clicks

When I went back to visit, he had lost his job in the coal mines. -No way to make a living around here, hardly. Coal mines gone. That's over with. Pretty much over with. The drugs and everything around here is terrible. But I'd like to go back to coal mining if I could.

Train horn blowing in distance

-He returned to the love of his childhood -- foraging in the mountains for moss, ginseng, and mushrooms to sell. It was a tough way to make a living, and his life took a turn for the worse. I learned soon after that he was in the county jail, packed into a group cell with 24 other men. -23-, 24-hour-a-day is a lot down here.

Exhales sharply

It'll wear you out mentally, it really will. -Mm-hmm. So, why are you here? -Drugs. That, and my own stupidity. Wrong place, wrong time, and involved with the wrong people, and that's what happens. See kids come in -- they're like 90 pounds. Gotta be something other than what they're doing out there. It's just destroying the whole community. I'll get out of here eventually, you know?

Buzzer sounds

I'm a survivor. Have to be. -Great to see you. -Nice to see you, too.

Speaking indistinctly

-Yeah, still doing good. Robert was released from jail in 2018. He returned home to put his life back together. You remember this? -

Chuckles

Yeah. I can actually spell a little bit nowadays. Back then, I couldn't spell too good. -How'd you learn how to spell? -Self-taught. -So, what do you think about your future? -I don't know.

Camera shutter clicks

I really don't know. I've given it a lot of thought, and I don't know. No making up for the mistakes. -Hi, Wendy. You're never gonna guess who this is. I'm an educator in Perry County, Kentucky, with 18 years of experience under my belt. A couple weeks ago, I had training on children and poverty. I went to my bookshelf when I got home, and got down your "Portraits and Dreams" book. By the time I finished reading it again, I was sobbing because it had new meaning to me. I hope to hear from you soon. -And little Miss Chloe Caudill was also a winner for "caught being good." So, if Jordan, Vernon, and Chloe would come to the office, please? I can remember dreaming of falling and jumping and waking yourself up. And it was fun, thinking back to what you had dreamed, and then how are you gonna bring that to life in pictures. -Yeah. -I think my brother took the picture. -Mm-hmm. -He did, because we had to carry coal in this -- that was our coal house. -Right. -And if I would help him carry the coal in, he would take the picture for me. I always had to pay him. -To take the pictures? -To do whatever I needed him to do.

Laughs

One way or the other, I had to pay him. Now I would think that people would look at that book and say, "Those poor children," and we were not poor. We may have been financially, but otherwise, we were not. I've always thought about that, when you did take 'em to other places, how did people really feel about 'em? You know, did they look at those pictures and feel sorry for us or...? -When somebody will say, "Were these people poor?" I don't talk about that, because that's somebody's idea coming from the outside. This is not what, you know, what these pictures were about when they were taken, and they're not about it now. -When I look at the book -- and I'll try not to get emotional, but...

Voice breaking

We were poor, but we didn't feel that way. No. And now that I'm an educator, and knowing what I know about poverty and... We didn't see it as that way. You know, we wasn't poor. We didn't... We were important because we were taking those pictures. And now when I look back, of course, you know, I got emotional a while ago because I do get emotional about... Because I was one of the children that I have now, and I want to make a difference in their life and inspire them the way that you inspired us. -Sure!

Both laughing

-Well, that's just too cool. Okay. Oh, cool! Yes. -Johnny Wilder was in a family of about eight or nine kids, and his mother was on welfare. Sometimes they didn't have anything to eat. They had to move from house to house where anyone would accept them, because they'd run out of money. Finally, the Human Services took them away from his mom. She went to the county courthouse and lay on the steps until they gave her kids back. Alright.

Plastic crinkling

When Johnny was 10, his father left. At one point, they got a letter from him that was 10 pages long. Johnny couldn't read it, because he couldn't read. -Like that. Yeah, I remember that. -Yeah. Being with Johnny again after 30 years was exciting. He was a huge success, with a job in the coal industry and two sons. -I know what you're thinking. -Mm? -He's thinking, "She pulls that up, how's that picture getting on that paper if she's pulling -- if she pulls it up?" -That's what I'm thinking.

Laughs

-There you go, prove it. There you go. -Oh, now, that's... -See, look here. -Johnny, his brothers and sisters, and I used to take pictures together on the weekends. -That's the way Wendy used to do us, me and Charles. She'd catch us doing something, and then she'd say, "Hold it right there! Don't move! Hold it right there. Sit in that position. Don't move!" And she'd get her camera out and take a picture of it. That's the way she done Charlie when he was standing behind that clothesline with that old quilt across.

Boys laughing

-

Laughs

Now, that's familiar. -

Mimicking engine revving

-Oh, that's nice! Did you put this together? -Yeah. But this is me standing here, and this is the truck I used to drive. -Right. -See, I can remember, back when I was a 13-, 14-year-old, when you, you know, was taking pictures. -Yeah. -Sitting there playing with the toys that we found out of the creek, that was tore up, that we fixed, and sat and played with them on the bank. -Mm-hmm.

Both laugh

You're doing the same thing, only with the real thing. -Yeah, now I'm doing the real thing. Back then, you know, I thought it was bad, you know -- that living, you know, life was bad. I can remember brothers killing brothers, daddies killing sons, and stuff. I mean, if it wasn't for going to school, we wouldn't even eat. Back then, it was hard. Mama draws small checks. She draw welfare, food stamps for us. And when that was gone, that food was gone, there was plenty of times, you know, it'd be two weeks, three weeks, nothing to eat. "My favorite sister is Clara. She's got a baby and one on the way. She married and lives on the road in a car." Back then, she did. -Yeah? -"And I wish Clara would get a divorce from Zendall." She finally did. -That's good. -And now he's gone. -Yeah. -He died. -Mm. Mm. -"Because he's going...to..." -"...beat her..." -"...beat her to death." We're all alike, the same.

Crying

-Brings back a lot. It was a hard life. -Back then, it was. -Yeah, it was. -Seeing all kinds of stuff when we was growing up. -Mm-hmm. -You know, considering not having a daddy, you know, to raise us... -Yeah. -...we turned out pretty good after all. -Terrific. Yeah. -We sure did. -Yeah. -Gary Crase was my smartest student. -One time, you brought a book in and it was a poem, and I had never heard poetry before. And I can remember you reading this poetry and... being utterly amazed. -Gary made strange pictures of his dreams and home life that I couldn't understand at the time. He grew up in a house that didn't have running water, and the only light was a bulb hanging from a drop cord. Both Gary and his father had progressive hearing loss. What I hadn't realized was how profound it was. -You can see that the house started right there at the corner of that cliff. And so we were standing, you know, right here. And that rock about there, I remember playing on that rock that's sticking out right there. And I remember taking photographs, and I remember hating to take pictures of Dad because he always had something to drink. Now, I've seen Dad sell the shoes off of his feet to go get beer, you know. And, you know... you know, there's people that are in poverty and are alcoholics. You know, he was one of them. He'd beat me over the back with his belt. Now, as I remember, it was close to Christmastime, because Dad was watching television. And I was playing with a pair of plastic purple sunglasses. And I accidentally broke the glasses on the bridge of the nose. And he said, "Well, if you can't take care of the toys you already got, then you don't need any more." And Dad opened up the stove and made me throw the presents in one at a time and watch them burn. And I remember seeing the flames burn through the box, very vividly still yet, seeing that plastic just melting. And...almost every Christmas was similar to that. You know, the opportunity to learn to do photography, you know, it was something that left a mark on me. Have we left a mark on you? -Sometimes I think about it as like, you know, the first time you fall in love, you know. It's something that sort of marks the way you love, in a way, and the way that you... And it's so fresh in your mind, you know, you don't ever remember anything else in the same way. And I feel like that about this experience. I learned how to do everything I did with you guys. I worked out all these ideas, but I also just fell in love with you. You let me see things that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. It was only with the years that I figured out, "Oh, this is my life." -I can very distinctly remember that you brought a touch of the outside world in, and so that's one of the things you did for me. I did not want to work in the mines. I did not want to end up being somebody that was unemployed, living on nothing. -Gary knew he wouldn't be able to afford to go to college. So he studied hard, and when he graduated from high school, he was awarded a full scholarship to Alice Lloyd College. Later, he was accepted into a graduate program for engineering. Instead, he decided to stay closer to home. Now Gary works in the science department of his alma mater and teaches sign language in the community. Denise was a strong creative presence. She seemed so consistent in everything she did.

Camera shutter clicks

-We gonna get 'em all up? -If we can make it real close, then it'll all look like it's one picture, kind of. -Sure. I was asked to curate a show of a lesser-known artist for the People's Biennial in my hometown of Detroit. I knew photography had remained a part of Denise's life, so I asked her if she'd be willing to work with me on the first exhibition of her photographs. -How do you edit out your -- you know, decide on which pictures to use? -I just pick out what I think they would like the best, whoever I'm doing the book for. -Okay. So this is for you and me,

laughing

and nobody else. But that makes it harder, right? -Yeah. -

Chuckles

Do you see yourself as an artist? Or as an artist with a camera? -Yes, I think anybody that would express their self or create something would be considered an artist. So, do you see yourself as an artist? -Yeah. I didn't always. It's taken me a while to understand that there were very different ways that people could be artists, that what I was doing with you guys was actually being an artist, you know. Even though I wasn't taking my own pictures all the time, but what we did together was artistry. We were understanding each other and helping each other to make something that communicated to other people.

Indistinct conversations

-Wendy has gone out and had an amazing international career, doing something that, to me, was very significant when I ran across her work, when I was a college student -- making sort of participatory photography projects. And so this was like a new idea to me at the time that I ran across it, and it had a huge influence on the work that I do. And I think even this exhibition is a result of people like Wendy who sort of pioneered this more participatory approach to art-making and exhibition-making. -I tried to persuade Denise to come to the opening reception, but she's shy and was reluctant to leave home. She sees her photographs now as things she makes to share with friends and family.

Bell ringing

After years of working with my students, I knew I wanted to make a book, and I wanted to make it with them. Our first step was to learn how to make books together. From all the work we did -- the taking and editing of their pictures, the making of the books, the interviews I conducted with them, I put together "Portraits and Dreams." It took me five years to find a publisher, but when the book came out, it struck a chord. I think people realized it was possible to make powerful images by working together. So, Pete, where are the... Where are the negatives? Are they... -They're all in here. -Oh, there's Kingdom Come, Campbell's Branch.

Speaking indistinctly

And here's Gary Crase.

Binder rings click

And we have Sue Dixon. Oh, here's Johnny Wilder. When I'm photographing something, it seems like it's never done. Here we come to Denise. There's all this stuff that's happened before, that's happening afterwards. That's what's really interesting, to be able to change the timeline. Yeah, maybe...yeah. The kids I worked with were more than my students -- they were my companions and my creative collaborators. Once, when Denise was in the sixth grade, she and I stretched out on her bed and talked for hours about her dreams and premonitions. I learned how much they influenced her photographs. And I realized, looking around her room, that it was decorated with still lives she made with her dolls and figurines. You remember these? -Yeah, I remember that. -Yeah? And I think that this is yours. -Is that one mine? Wow. -Yeah. -

Laughs

It's different than the one I'm used to now, for sure. -Yeah.

Film advance clicking

Yep. That's what... Yeah. You have to go... Yeah, there you go. Do you remember how I kept trying to get you to keep taking pictures? -Yes.

Laughs, sighs

-Was that annoying? -Well, I was...I guess I wanted to grow up and do other things, and you know, leaving a little bit of the childhood behind and going on to be an adult. -Yeah. Yeah. -

Laughs

-Russell and Kim and I would photograph together at their grandmother's house. We were like accomplices in a secret game. We knew as photographers that sometimes we had to trick the adults in order to get the pictures we wanted. -So, this "Portraits and Dreams" has been your whole life, hasn't it? -Yeah. -When I was doing this, I always thought I wanted to be a photographer. But then, you know, life goes on and you start doing different things, and then you forget about some of that stuff, so... -But you don't regret it, do you, or...? -No, no, I don't regret it. I mean... I done good.

Laughs

Long way from a little hollow in Letcher County. -Yep. -You know, growing up in a rural area, you know, we done the basics, reading, arithmetic, spelling, and all that. But as far as being challenged to really think about these things on the level that you challenged us, I don't think we ever were until you came. -This was something that was important to do. -Right. -And for a long time, people didn't, you know, recognize that it was legitimate. -I think you've done very well.

Both laugh

-I think you've done -- and you and everybody else have done very well. -I'm glad you chose that path. -Yeah, me too. -And that our paths crossed along the way. -Yep, me too. Me too. Yep.

Children laughing, shouting

When I went back to Kentucky, the overwhelming feeling was one of guilt. I'd left, they'd stayed. I couldn't imagine what would happen to them. Would they become like some of the mountain men and women I knew, who had limited opportunities? What I couldn't see then was how resilient my students were and what thoughtful and creative adults they would become. This is a dream picture, and that's something that I asked the students to do, was to photograph their dreams or fantasies. And this is another one by Allen Shepherd, and it's, "I Dreamt I Killed My Best Friend Ricky Dixon." He and Allen had had a fight over hunting knives that they'd swapped, and they weren't talking to each other. Allen actually, you know, had this dream and then he asked Ricky to enact it. And in the making of the picture, the two of them made up.

Indistinct conversations

The kids taught me that it's less interesting to frame the world only according to my own perceptions. I had to recognize what they were seeing and what their vision asked of the world. What I hoped is that these pictures would have an effect on the lives of the people who are looking at them. But sometimes, one culture or class of people is looking at another, which can have serious consequences. Because of the viewers' assumptions, they can be blind to what they're looking at.

Children laughing, shouting

We need to be open to see what's there.