Photos, interviews capture beauty of sage black women
To call Alysia Burton Steele’s thoughtful and thought-provoking book “Delta Jewels” by its full title, one must write: “Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother’s Wisdom: Portraits and Interviews with My Elders.” That’s quite a few words. And not one too many.
Steele has been a photographer for a quarter-century and was part of a team that won a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for documenting Hurricane Katrina. “Delta Jewels” interweaves the story of Steele’s early life in Pennsylvania and Mississippi with large black-andwhite photographs, some spanning two pages, of 54 sage black women. Accompanying each portrait is a first-person account of each woman’s life and her signature.
“Delta Jewels” is quite obviously part autobiography, part biography, part photography book and part autograph book. But it is the less obvious parts — Steele’s critique of prevailing beauty aesthetics and her exploration of the intimate lives of longlived black women — that dazzle. Steele recently answered questions from Chapter 16 via e-mail:
Is there any sense that “Delta Jewels” is about mother-loss as well as grandmother loss?
Absolutely. For me it was about a grandmother’s loss, but for many it may be about the loss of a mother, grandmother, aunt, sister, teacher — any woman who has helped raise, encourage and support us. It goes across race, too. It’s about remembering old times and learning from our elders — appreciating our oral history and remembering all the quirks, old sayings and mannerisms that helped shaped us into who we are today.
You do a powerful job of capturing the particular beauty of every single woman you photograph in “Delta Jewels.” What do you look for to find the beauty in the person who is sitting for you?
When
I sat down with the women, I preferred to interview and talk with them first and then take their photograph. I needed to make eye contact and listen to them — I mean really listen to them. Oftentimes I had to dig deeper and ask many follow-up questions. I watched their mannerisms, how they held their heads, how they sat with their hands. I did this because I wanted to see what features spoke the most to me. That’s how I decided to take their photographs.
As a black woman, I get very irritated when photojournalists show black people in such a negative light. I get tired of seeing stories about athletes, drugs, unwed mothers — like that’s all we are. Can someone show me some proud black women? I believe our culture is thirsty for it. And I just tried to do my grandmother and these wonderful grandmothers justice.
“Delta Jewels” interweaves autobiography, biography and photographs. But you also include, quite prominently, the signatures of the women you photographed. If you hadn’t included the signatures, what would be missing?
Handwriting is a big part of who we are. I want people to look at their signatures and know these women are proud of what they’ve shared with me.
“Delta Jewels” explodes stereotypes by documenting and celebrating something that has long been invisible to most Americans about Southern blackness: the excellent, enduring marriages. How did you decide to center your interviews on the women’s marriages and not their grandchildren?
You know, I didn’t have a list of questions prepared before I met with each woman. I had maybe three or four questions that I asked every woman, but I “let” each woman talk about what she wanted to talk about — be it about education, marriage, religion, race, etc. I went with the flow. They ran the show. I would just dig deep and hope they’d share.
You portray each Delta jewel as profoundly comfortable in her own skin. If you had photographed these women as girls on the “plantations” where so many were raised, do you think that feeling would have been equally clear?
I don’t know how to answer that question. As women, I think we become more aware of our strength, our worth, as we age. We reflect on things, and we learn from life experiences. I can’t say if they would have been more comfortable or not. I’m positive many of them were just as clear about who they were then as they are now.