HI, I’M POSY
photo by Cornell Watson
MY WHY
In the photographic archives of my childhood with my single-mother, we have a number of photos captured by various artist friends; there are more proper portraits of us, dressed for the occasion, posed and in focus, yet this is the one I seem to come back to again and again. I think it’s the way we’re both dressed, the fact that I have no memory of this apartment, but how much I see my mom in the decorating, how I’m mimicking her on the phone hanging onto my doll at my side just like I’m at hers...
I don’t know if this photo influences how I shoot, or if what I love about it is that recording-of-life-thing I strive for when photographing families in their homes.
What I know is when my mother died in late 2017, in the days leading up to her last, the brief times I wasn’t by her side I was home tearing things apart looking for this photo. This photo - yes, the tangible thing I can hold in my hands, but more importantly, the way it makes me FEEL - is a representation of what drives me to photograph families the way that I do.
Of all the items belonging to my mother that I'm left with, this photo is far more valuable to me. It is among my greatest desires that other children have these images of themselves when they are grown.
Your home need not be magazine-worthy, your clothes need not match, what speaks to me as an artist, and what I want for you, is your story, your truth, in all of its love-filled forms.
xo, PQ
WHAT MATTERS MOST
I fundamentally believe that Black Lives Matter.
I recognize my privilege and am committed to doing the work of acknowledging and unlearning my own implicit biases.
I will pay Black, Indigenous, and People of Color for coaching and mentoring in an effort to be more aware of how I uphold my own white dominance.
I’m will be looking at ways to amplify underrepresented voices in my community through photography and will continue to grow my business centering this work.
I will work with vendors (print labs, web-hosting companies, software programs, etc.) who have made public inclusivity and diversity statements and actively contribute to anti-racist organizations.
I am committed to supporting and uplifting the LGBTQIA+ community and will continue to speak up on behalf of all oppressed and marginalized people.
I am pro-abortion, anti-TERF, and have no patience for ableism or fat-phobia.
I support strict gun laws. I believe in prison reform.
And finally, I recognize that Portland rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla and many other Tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River. I want to acknowledge and express my deep gratitude to the indigenous people on whose traditional and ancestral land I sit.
Consider this an open invitation to hold me accountable to my promises.
photo by Jenna Elliott
“Posy is the truest form of Home. The second she came through the door I felt like we needed to belly up and tell each other all our secrets. My kids immediately were engaged with her magical essence and funny ways of inspiring greatness in them. Our photos captured their silliness and heart and the love between us. I just wish I had Posy in my pocket at every turn to capture the highs and lows of it all. We love you thanks.”
- KERI JONES