Surgery on my right hand in June 2023 left me unable to hold my camera, much less use it. From photographic daily to just looking at my camera sitting alone on the table looking back at me, left me extremely sad. In an effort to avoid falling deep into a dark place, I needed to find a way to make photographs.
I took long walks along the street with my camera (and smallest lens) hanging around my neck. It was precariously balanced on my bandaged hand, but I found a way to capture images. The photographs were very different from my usual work, but they seemed to reflect my mental state at the time. Though they were dark they had an element of light, and it was the light that I needed to find.
Bernice Williams
I was born in a small country town near Pittsburgh, PA, where I went to university and studied painting and sculpture. To be a painter was my dream! For several years I lived in Papua New Guinea and then moved to Sydney, Australia. In both places I worked with clay, mostly high-fired white earthenware, creating minimalist hand built forms. Eventually I returned to the U.S., first to New York City, and then to Chicago where I now live. I’ve come full circle and returned to my first love of painting, but now I paint with light.
www.bernicewilliams.photography