BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
OF
PHOTOGRAPHER
KENNETH E. WASHINGTON

The ability to recall images of people and places since the age of three months has been a beacon of treasure which I deeply enjoy. On the imprinted date of an old black and white photographed dated three months after my birth, I recall vividly seeing my mother smiling while my father took a photograph of me sitting on the front porch.

During a Missouri thunderstorm I recall my mother rocking me in her arms while we sat on the front porch. It was sunny at first, then gradually the sun turn orange, then red and finally it became black. The smell of rain filled my nostrils while my mother held me tighter, then she gave in and went indoors.

The theme of my photographic art is centered on, “Variations.” I find it a nature understanding due to the fact that my life is centered on variations.
In high school I use to walk the halls until the math teacher Mr. Hayes pulled me into his classroom and showed me the photographic darkroom. He invited me to join his photography club. That was the first of my great variation.

Later after high school I moved to Los Angeles. While working odds jobs, a friend told me that the colleges are giving out money for people to go to school. I entered Los Angeles City College in 1976 only to get the grants that were giving for attending. I enrolled into a photography course, and later became lab assistance. After being impressed with the student’s newspaper “The Collegian,” I joined its staff. After a year, I was selected to become the paper’s photo editor, and during my tenure, I won many local and state photographic awards including the Los Angeles Press Club “Best Sport Photograph 1977.” This lead me to a job working with Motown Records as a photographer. This was my second great variation.

In 1979 I enrolled into The Kansas City Art Institute. There I learned photography as an art form. It also was the school where Walt Disney and Thomas Hart Benton studied. It was at the Kansas City Art Institute where I along with other African American Artist would come together each night and pontificate on art and the world’s problems. It was during these discourses that cause me to see the world in a total different perspective. During that time I joined the staff of the Kansas City Star Newspaper, the Kansas City Magazine, and The historical African American newspaper, The Kansas City Call. This was my third great variation.

During the 80’s and 90’s I dedicated my life to family and God. I started working for the Government mainly for benefits to support my family, and decided to pursue a degree in theology. I was successful in both endeavors. This was my forth great variation.

Photojournalism was my main focus during the past 30 years. I have thousands of images of people, places and things. However, I felt that I was just documenting life as it was, no variations, people hurting and in pain, or people happy and enjoying life. During the digital age of photography, I developed my new love of photography, “Variations.” It’s the ability to create “photographic thought provoking art.”

In my perspective, “Photographic Variation” is a mixture of the Great Missourian artist Thomas Hart Benton combined with the Florida “Highway Men.” The Highway Men were African American artist who started painting in the 1950’s. Galleries in Florida would not exhibit their works, so they sold their art on the highways of Florida.

In my variations one will find the final stages of my artistic progressions. I’m at peace with what I see, and see only that which is at peace.

Notations:
Mentored by Gordon Parks, September 1979

Exhibitions:

Los Angeles City College
Kansas City Art Institute
Arts in the Woods, Overland Park, Kansas
Charlie Parker Academy for the Art, Kansas City Missouri

Gallery Representative:

Poetry on Canvas, Pleasanton, California