Refocusing the Lens
Photo by Misty S.
“Shocked. Unbelievable. Surprised that I had this talent all along,” said Misty Swisk, browsing over her stark, black and white photographs.
Misty carries a lot of self-doubt. Any time someone says she’s done something well or that she should be proud of herself, her initial instinct is to question it. When she first started attending Blossoms, a free day-spa at Laughlin Chapel, she doubted the sense of community around her. It was hard for her to trust in the women who wanted to be her friend, and harder yet to trust that she was likeable.
When Rebecca Kiger, a nationally renowned documentary photographer based in Wheeling, started showing up at Blossoms and giving the women cameras, Misty wasn’t so sure about her ability. But eventually, after battling through the doubts and hesitations, her newly discovered talents spoke truth to her heart, and she started believing in herself.
Since the beginning of her relationship with images, Rebecca viewed her gift of the eye through the lens of community. While attending Hampshire College, a liberal arts school in New Jersey known for its experimental education style, she leaned heavily into the social and communal dimensions of the craft, using her privilege as a tool to do what she calls a democratization of her field of study.
“That means sharing resources, sharing skills, sharing pleasure, enjoyment, entertainment,” she explained. “I'm aware of my own privilege in being able to do the work and I don't want it to be exclusionary, which is why I try to think creatively, in whatever circumstance, like, how do you make people part of the process?”
During the process of her recent photo essay in TIME Magazine documenting the spike in homeless deaths in Wheeling during the height of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, she began forming relationships with the women at Blossoms. She saw a space to share her talents and resources, and she acted on it.
The following series of photos were taken by women at Blossoms. Photography is a way to translate empathy into static images, giving one a better sense of someone’s life and perception. These photos, and this paper as a whole, showcase the talents of those who may have never been given the chance to refine their gifts. It is often said that cream rises to the top, but in an unequal society, talent often slips through the cracks, untapped and unnoticed. For all the self-doubt and hesitations, Misty left a piece of advice that she learned through the process of her new photography hobby. “God gave everybody a gift in this world. You just got to look deep in your heart to find it.”
