ARTmonday: Winky Lewis

I have fallen hard for Portland, Maine-based photographer Winky Lewis. The portraits of her children are reminiscent of the photographs of my very first photo crush, Sally Mann. They’re also somewhat similar to photos taken by my friend Kathleen Schwartz of her fairy tale children. They also remind me of a photograph that hangs in my bedroom; the first portrait I ever purchased (you can see it at the end of this post). I love evocative black and white portraits of children and their fairy tale lives. Winky Lewis’ photographs are stunning and insightful.  She also happened to photograph my friend Sharon Kitchens‘ homestead for a Boston Globe story I wrote, but I’ll save that for another time.

 

 

 

 

 Winky Lewis (with her son) (and her camera) 

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I think this is the first portrait I ever purchased. I bought it in the early ’90s at an auction at Little Red Schoolhouse / Elizabeth Irwin, a progressive school in NYC, whose alumni includes artists and artists’ kids. I remember seeing works by Francisco Clemente there. Those were certainly not in my budget. This photo was taken by one of the women who worked in the office of the school; it pictures her nieces. I still love it. It hangs above my bedside table.