Simply Take A Walk

by Gina Williams

Gina Williams’s photographs show us that sometimes walking the streets in our community is all it takes to spark rediscovery.  

PlayMe_Williams

“Play Me” by Gina Williams

In Summer 2013, a Portland, Oregon, woman teamed up with The Snowman Foundation, a nonprofit that donates used pianos to local children. They installed five pianos around the city for a public art program called “Piano! Push Play!” The sound of piano music in the South Park Blocks drew me to this old brown instrument brought to life by a passerby who’d taken up the simple offer stenciled in blue, filling the park with the sweet sound of art: “Play Me!”

Wingless_Williams

“Wingless” by Gina Williams

I’d just left the Portland Japanese Garden and was heading home when I saw the entrance to historic Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Portland’s West Hills. This particular cemetery has many ornate headstones and statues, including angels such as this one. A storm had just passed and there was mist clinging to the trees. The angel, streaked with rain, seemed to guard her quiet section defiantly but with the sad sense of the fallen: arm raised, one finger missing.

 

 

About the Photographer

Gina Williams is a Pacific Northwest native originally from Whidbey Island, Washington. She has worked as a firefighter, reporter, housekeeper, caregiver, veterinarian’s assistant, tree planter, gas station attendant, technical writer, cocktail waitress, and berry picker. Her most curious on-the-job task was feeding pet meal worms for an elderly woman as part of her housekeeping duties. Her most exciting task was fighting wildfires across the west. Most rewarding: raising her sons. She earned a master’s in Communications from the University of Oregon. Williams’ poetry, photography, and essays have been featured or are forthcoming most recently in The SunFuguePalooka, Black Box Gallery, and NewerYork, among others. Her website is at http://www.GinaMarieWilliams.com.