Today, I am excited to spotlight George Slade. George Slade was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in the early 1960s and lives in Minneapolis. He is a widely published author, online and in print, on matters related to photography. He advises photographers on project development and editing and has curated many exhibitions in roles as Artistic Director and Program Director at visual arts organizations in the Twin Cities and Boston. He earned his BA at Yale University with a major in American Studies, and has a MA in Organizational Leadership from St. Catherine University in St. Paul. George’s first book, titled My Father’s Shirts, was published in 2019.   Cendrine Marrouat: Hello George! How did you get started as a photographer and writer? Any specific story? George Slade: I think my father’s slideshows from trips he took with my mother had a big impact on my way of seeing the world. He was not a great photographer but he was earnest and interested in his subject matter, especially the people he was traveling with, so his verbal travelog conveyed a sense of importance and friendly dedication to me. I was a young teenager during that time. Later in my teens I discovered Ansel Adams, whose grand photographs quickly led me into awareness of others who were consciously pouring themselves into the practice of photography as a serious form of artistic pursuit. By the time I entered college I was convinced that the medium was of great significance to my way of being in the world. CM: How does creativity speak to you? How do you approach photography on a daily basis? GS: I can’t help but frame the world as I encounter it daily. Certain relationships between objects, light, color, and space coalesce and I am drawn to look closely. Often the arrangement will prompt me to make a photograph.  CM: How would you define your style? And how have your experiences as Artistic Director and Program Director shaped your work as an artist? GS: My style, such as it is, has been formed in reaction to and sympathy with the hundreds of thousands of photographs I saw in my formal roles and as a collector of photobooks and photographers. I would love to do more portraiture. My project with my father has reminded me of the nuances of vision and character that intersect in photography’s moments. CM: You are the author of My Father’s Shirts, which recounts your father’s journey into Alzheimer’s disease through words and photographs. Why did you choose this title? GS: Literally and figuratively, I have worn my father’s shirts. Sometimes they fit me quite well; we were the same size. As a banker and an art college president he had to wear button down shirts for work, while I have had only a few jobs that require shirts with collars. Shirts were part of uniform for him, not a fashion statement. I realize that part of my challenge as his son has been accepting or rejecting the messages he gave me. Clothing choices were unspoken directives. CM: Is there a specific event that triggered your desire to create this project? GS: I hadn’t spent a lot of time photographing my father. When I started looking closely at him, seeking signs of the Alzheimer’s dementia manifesting itself in him, I found a kind of tenderness and compassion that surprised me. I think the early photographs in the book, from spring andsummer of 2019, turned me on to the possibility that photographing Dad was a means for me to be closer to him than we had been in life. By the start of 2020 I was fully engaged, visiting him two to three times a week. CM: What is your favorite photo in the book? Why? GS: The one on page 14. This picture made me realize how much of myself was in the story. It hadn’t dawned on me that I was more than just an objective observer in Dad’s life. I was, in ways this photograph diagrams, an active participant. Most specifically, I see a reflection of myself. Imagine pressing your hand to a mirror. That’s what I realized I was doing here, since my father’s hand so closely resembled my own. When I saw this photograph later, on the little screen of my phone camera, I felt that tingle of recognition. I was seeing myself in my father. CM: Would you share a short extract? GS: The text connected to my favorite photograph is important. On March 22, 2019, Mom and I came for Friday lunch in the memory care unit. As we sat after eating, I was compelled to holdup my hand and photograph it as Dad sat to me left. I held it there, not knowing what the purpose of the gesture was. The first thing he did was to backhand me with his right hand, as if to make my hand go away. The next thing he did was startling. He spread his fingers and matched them up against mine. As we pressed our palms together, I was suddenly charged with purpose. That moment was the opening for the story that followed. CM: Why do you think My Father’s Shirts is important? And how has the book been received so far? GS: The book has not found a broad audience yet. Aside from the many friends I and my father and mother have garnered over the years, there have not been a lot of sales. Which surprises me, as I know there are many, many people who are experiencing the loss of a loved one to dementia. Maybe people just don’t want to see its progress or attend to someone’s suffering. The book has another important aspect to it, which is that it was originally presented on Instagram, and I worked with my designer Franny Fuller to create a context in the book that emulates the Instagram visual space, including the comments that others submitted in response to my entries. These comments were tremendously important to me during a time of quarantine when I was having very limited encounters with anyone besides my father and his wonderful team of caregiving professionals. CM: What is your most important piece of advice to artists? GS: I wouldn’t presume to advise artists. I know that I was not quick to acknowledge myself as an artist, and I know that everyone’s creative path is different. In my experience, functioning within the parameters of “art” has always been life-affirming, though tremendously challenging in terms of making my way through the world. CM: Anything else people should know? GS: I’m just finishing up work on Looking Homeward, a publication funded by the Minnesota State Arts Board. I am using four photographs that I selected from archives around Minnesota and creating short but pithy essays reflecting on both personal history and photographic insight. It’sa very small edition book, with lots of unusual features; I’ve been collaborating with an amazing designer named Claire Loes. I’m a Minnesota native, born in the very early 1960s. I have a BA in American Studies from Yale University and a Masters in Organizational Leadership from St. Catherine University in St. Paul. I live in an artist loft building in North Minneapolis with my eight-year-old rescue Beagle namedLulu. Support George Slade’s work!

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