"The Drowning" by Cornell Watson

B&H Photography Podcast

Jill Waterman

Podcast, Photography, Arts, Visual Arts, Bh, Photo

4.6 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2022

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In September 2017, we dedicated an episode to a conversation about one photograph—an image made by photographer Richard Drew, on September 11, 2001, in New York, which has come to be called “The Falling Man.” It was an insightful recollection and analysis of an incredibly painful image, and on today’s episode of the B&H Photography Podcast, we will again discuss one photograph to try to understand it better.

The photograph is titled, “The Drowning,” and it was taken in August of 2020 during another national crisis, albeit a very different one. Photographer Cornell Watson created the series “Behind the Mask,” “… for the times we pretend to be strong when we are dying from the weight of racism.”

Each image in the series is a carefully created and powerful allegory, but “The Drowning,” for reasons we will discuss in the episode, has a quiet power that has not waned since we first saw it. To learn more about this photograph, we are fortunate to have Cornell Watson join us, as well as photographer, author, and educator Tara Pixley. With Watson we chat about his motivations, inspiration, and his collaborative process, camera, and lenses, and workflow on the day of the shoot. We consider the reception of the image and discuss the life of the entire series.

In addition to her work as a visual journalist, a college professor, and curator, Tara Pixley is also a board member of the National Press Photographers Association, a member of the WPPI Advisory Board, and a co-founder of Authority Collective. Pixley is the ideal voice to provide us with aesthetic insight into the strength and significance of “The Drowning,” as well as the cultural and chronological contexts of why this image is an important artistic contribution from 2020 that echoes years of injustice and calls us to be more understanding and compassionate.

We’d also like to thank Cara Finnegan and Michael Shaw of “Reading the Pictures” for their contribution to this episode.

Guests: Cornell Watson and Tara Pixley

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the individual guests and do not necessarily represent the views of B&H Photo.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the B&H Photography Podcast.
0:04.0	For over 40 years, B&H has been the professional source for photography, video, audio, and
0:08.9	more.
0:09.9	For your favorite gear, news, and reviews, visit us at bnh.com or download the B&H app to
0:15.4	your iPhone or Android device.
0:17.6	Now here's your host, Alan Whitez.
0:22.0	Greetings and welcome to the B&H Photography Podcast.
0:25.1	Back in 2017, we dedicated an entire episode to an image known as the Falling Man, which
0:30.7	many considered to be one of the most powerful photographs taken on September 11, 2001.
0:36.4	We spoke with photographer Richard Drew about the making of the image and the impact it's
0:40.4	had on viewers.
0:42.2	Similarly, on today's episode, John Harrison, I will address one powerful photograph,
0:47.8	an image called the drowning, which was made in 2020 by photographer Cornel Watson.
0:53.6	This photograph is currently on display at the Nasham Museum at Duke University and was
0:58.0	part of a feature series published in the Washington Post.
1:01.9	We'd like to discuss the making of the photograph, its aesthetics, and the significance it holds
1:06.8	for Cornel, for his friends, his community, and to better understand it as both a personal
1:12.3	statement and as contemporary African American art.
1:16.5	And to that we're happy to have Cornel Watson join us from North Carolina as well as
1:20.7	photographer, author, and educator Tara Pixley, who's joining us from California.
1:25.8	We're going to speak more with Tara in the second half of the program and hear her
1:29.7	thoughts on the photo, but thank you both for joining us today.
	...

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