This Is My Proof
Introduction & Table of Contents
| VMFA Artist Talk VMFA Artist Profile 
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Blackbird partners again with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to celebrate African American photographers whose works have been recently acquired by the museum. Highlighted here in “This Is My Proof” is Richmond-born, New York photographer, LeRoy Henderson in a transcribed treatment of his VMFA Artist Talk with curator Sarah Ekchardt, as well as a video produced by the VMFA.
Footage for the seven minute video, “Artist Profile: LeRoy Henderson” was shot on February 16, 2017, with Sarah Echardt interviewing, but only Henderson appears. The profile includes his account of formative time spent in the studio of Adele Clark, a Richmond painter and—notable for our coverage of 1917 in this same issue—a Richmond suffragist in her younger years.
The text of the Artist Talk is taken from a conversation between LeRoy Henderson and Sarah Eckhardt that same day in front of an audience at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. In his conversation with Eckhardt, Henderson details his long career, beginning with his Richmond childhood and education, his work as an art educator, and his career as a photographer. The transcribed talk includes eighty-nine photographs, including images of rural Virginia, the Civil Rights movement, and of protests against the Vietnam and Iraq wars. The piece closes with Henderson’s recent photographs of political protests surrounding the 2016 presidential campaign. 
Contributor’s Notes: LeRoy Henderson
Contributor’s Notes: Sarah Eckhardt