Hernease Davis: On empathy in the darkroom
In this episode, we talk with Hernease Davis about empathy in the darkroom. Hearnease opens up about her use of photography to process, heal and take care of herself. The complexities of exhibiting work relating to vulnerable issues is explored as well as the topic of protection. Hernease discusses empathy in relation to trauma and the place of empathy in art history. The metaphor of walking in someone else’s shoes is deconstructed in order to depict empathy in a more nuanced way. Hernease also gives advice about using photography for the pursuit of self-knowledge.
What you’ll find inside:
“For the past ten years I’ve been crafting my practice to be a place where I can take care of myself. So like a psychological space and a safe place to imagine things that are metaphysically impossible in order to try and render a healing process for myself.” (3.20)
“Empathy actually started as an art historical term… empathy was started off as a way of appreciating art.” (25.23)
“You’ll never truly know what it is like to walk in their shoes or to be them and it’s ok to bring yourself in this idea of what empathy means.” (28.06)
“For me what it means to be seen is what you think of me as my surface is just the beginning. Ask me some questions, spend some time do a little bit of relating. It is also the way that I try to think about others as well.” (32.17)
What does photography ethics mean to Hernease?
“In my experience I have had the realisation that some people take photography personally, like too personally where it becomes their identity in some kind of way… I just approach it as it just is, it is and this is what photography has done. I can talk about it as a tool that has honestly saved my life but also has been a tool that has led to so many atrocities like genocide. That also has led to how we misread each other, how we misunderstand one another.” (37.24)
Links:
Hernease Davis is a photo-based Artist and an Assistant Curator at the Visual Studies Workshop where she develops programming that addresses contemporary conversations in the photographic arts. In her practice, Hernease uses photography, crochet and sound to create multi-sensorial installations that explore complex notions of empathy. Hernease mends her body into her work, creating large scale self-portraits as silver gelatin photograms, cyanotypes on fabric and sound pieces where she layers her voice in acapella.
Hernease’s work has been exhibited in institutions throughout the U.S., including the International Center of Photography (NYC), the Houston Center for Photography, Cleveland Museum of Art, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (NYC). Hernease’s work was also included in Direct Contact: Cameraless Photography Now at the Eskenazi Museum of Art, the first survey exhibition of cameraless photography to focus on contemporary, intergenerational and global artists. Hernease earned her B.A. in Biology from Swarthmore College and her M.F.A. in Advanced Photographic Studies from the International Center of Photography-Bard College.
You can see her work at https://www.herneasedavis.com
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