Eudora Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1909 and there she died, almost a century later, in 2001. She was a writer and a photographer. Her father, an amateur photographer, passed on the camera’s passion to her, and Eudora started taking pictures in the late 1920s. A relatively prolific writer, she published short stories and novels for various magazines and she worked also as an advertising agent and a radio operator.
In my utter ignorance, I didn’t know her at all. I didn’t even know that she had won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for her novel “The Optimist’s Daughter”. I discovered her portfolio recently, whilst I was doing some research on Afro-American portraiture in deep South, and I bought a book with her photos (see photo below). At first glance her photos made quite an impression on me: I was struck by the spontaneity and the unconventional situations she managed to capture. However, on a second viewing, I noticed a certain lack of technicalities in lighting, composition and framing.
She had a streak of genius and the sacred fire of art was within her. I wonder whether she considered herself a real photographer. As Aries, she was tenacious and did not lack in courage. In fact she was a rebel and a pioneer, for the type of photos that she took and for the subjects that she chose: mainly people of color and the poor classes around the Great Depression (30s), through to the 60s. Taking the camera in her hands allowed her to document the struggles and aspirations of the under-classes that were invisible and ignored. I don’t believe she had a constant self-confidence, even though probably she didn’t let others know this. But at the same time, I don’t think that she really cared what other people thought about her and her work.
Well done, Eudora, your qualities are an example to us all!
Elena Arvasi Portrait Photographer 