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DIES SATURNI XI JULIUS MMXX
11 JULY 2020
Kerry Stuart Coppin
I Promised Kerry I Would Be At His Funeral, Over 30 Years Later, I Was
From A Place Far Away To Providence, RI
22 MAY 1953 – 17 APR 2022, “A Short Story Made Long”
– – –
25 AUG 2011 & 09 SEP 2011, Every Single Second of Student Joshua Deaner’s Interview
Kerry’s Photographs, Selected & Arranged By Kerry Prior To Death
KANSAS ISLAND
It was my first day at this college as a student.
It was his first day at this college as a professor.
That is how it began. I met a man for which metaphor and technique were both to be mastered as they were already married. A mere 20 weeks that then went mostly quiet on and off for thirty-one years minus a random note I would instigate or an electronic letter as technology allowed – or if you knew him as you may likely know, he allowed.
A photographic problem. An argument seeking understanding or enlightenment. Soft and quiet. Loud and heated. All of these things often all at once for hours and hours until: you understood as he desired, he needed, or you walked away. He was there, he would not stop. A conversation with no end.
I once brought him a fresh wet print of mine in a tray for guidance. I asked my question, he said, “How hard is it to make a photograph?” I replied, “It is the hardest thing I know.” This circle went round and round until he abruptly stopped speaking exclaiming, “Your print is dry.”
He gave me film when I ran out. He let me live in his home when he was not there. He swung at me when I first photographed him.
Eight years after we met and years without speaking, I tracked him down now halfway across the country almost in the middle of Kansas. We went for a drive and made photographs. Thirty-one years after we met I sent him an electronic letter inviting myself to now Rhode Island to go for a drive again and make photographs. A few days later, student Joshua Deaner called…
Kerry spoke of being alone at his death and he was.
I told him once I would attend his funeral and I did.
1999 Kansas in color/2022 Rhode Island in black and white.
On Kerry as a student:
“More – much more – production will solve your photographic problems.”
Aaron Siskind – 5/18/75
“Seems to have a very clear idea of what he is doing. Contributes a great deal to class. Has an obvious strong visual talent.”
Harry Callahan – 1/5/76
“What we have learned has yet to be made visible. Joy will come when we learn to do it fearlessly. The ability to grow is locked in with the ability to define.”
Ray K. Metzker – 5/29/77
On Jonathan as a student:
“Jonathan approaches art as an earnest, vital, and important affair… I am convinced that Jonathan is a highly motivated artist, committed to the use of visual art practice as a means to formalize and structure experience, into layers of content, and social political critique.”
Kerry S. Coppin – 12/15/21
“You’re going to the Philadelphia area? If you see Ray Metzker, tell him Kerry Coppin says he is an asshole.”
Kerry S. Coppin – Spring 1992
LAST SEEN HERE
In January 2022, 25 People Were Reported Missing
I Am Documenting All 24 Locations They Were Last Seen
I Miss People Everyday, This Is A Work In Progress
31 MAY 2020
Asheville, North Carolina
On May 30, 2020 – The Colorado Times Recorder documented thousands of people that voluntarily put their faces in the ground with their hands behind their back as they chanted, “I can’t breathe.” All these strangers came together to do this together for 9 mins. This is the amount of time it took for George Floyd to slowly be murdered by four officers and a system that allows and celebrates “Blue Lives” over all others at all costs.
On May 31, 2020 – officers in Asheville, NC did everything they could to make it as hard for those peacefully assembled, and often kneeling, to simply breathe. The Asheville Police Department even went as far as singling out and targeting a black man wearing a Colin Kaepernick shirt with a chemical weapon to the face.
Hold your breath for the length of this story, when it ends, hold your breath four more minutes.
Then do it again while four men hold you down while handcuffed.
06 JUN 2020
Asheville, North Carolina
There Is Something In The Air In The Appalachian Mountains Of North Carolina
I Saw, I Heard, I Met, The Man
02 JUN 2020
Asheville, North Carolina
On June 2, 2020, long after the protest for George Floyd and Police Brutality ended in downtown Asheville, NC., at approximately 2:30AM, many residents in the Shiloh neighborhood called 911 to report a fire.
The Venus Lodge No. 62 was engulfed in flames.
Venus Lodge No. 62 was the first black Masonic Lodge in Asheville, NC.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
10,000
Price Hill Potter’s Field
Cincinnati, Ohio ~ EST. 1849
When An epidemic struck this mass grave was begun.
For 132 years 8,500-10,000 people were unceremoniously buried here.
They were deemed the city’s poor, unwanted, unknown, and “Pests.”
17 AUG 2020
Cindy McMillan On The Second Anniversary Of Her Husband’s Death
We Sat Down & Waited For Her To Begin Speaking, This Is That Wait
17 AUG 2020
Julia Black