Nestor Hernandez 1960- 2006

The death of our friend and colleague Nestor Hernandez saddens us.  Hernandez died after a short battle with cancer.  He was the photographer for many of our covers including the “Our Cuban Cousins” issue.  Hernandez was of African-Cuban and African-American descent.  Two of our staff members had the great opportunity to travel with him to Cuba, a country he loved, and to visit our brethren in Cuba.

The current administration's policies prevented him from returning to the island nation.
     
Hernandez conducted many photography programs and exhibits with children in Ghana, Cuba, the United States and other countries.  His latest project was in Mali. 
     
With Port of Harlem, he developed the “Our Children, Our World,” photography exhibit featuring the works of children from Ghana, Cuba, Washington, D.C., and Gary, IN.   After a successful run in Washington, D.C., the exhibit opens in Gary this summer, very sadly without Hernandez, as an official event celebrating Gary’s 100th anniversary.  It is our honor to dedicate the exhibition his honor as a mellow, easy-to-work with brother and gifted photographer.
                   
As with many artists, Hernandez died with little money.  Burial contributions are being accepted by his father:
     
      Nestor L. Hernandez
      5401B- Annapolis Rd.
      Bladensburg,MD 20710

An exhibit of Hernandez’s work will open in Baltimore on June 17, right across from  Pratt Central  at the reopening  of the new Baltimore hostel. -- Herbert

posted 17 May 2006

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Scattered Treasures

Losing the Legacy of Photographer Nestor Hernandez, Jr. 

By Donna M. Wells

About two weeks ago, it was brought to the attention of the local African American photography community that the photographs, negatives, portfolios, camera equipment, and photography books belonging to Nestor Hernandez, Jr. were being sold by two vendors at the 6th street and Florida Avenue flea market.  Nestor was a locally based award winning documentary photographer who died in 2006 at the age of 45.  

Although he is recognized for his work as the official photographer for the Children’s Museum and for DC Public Schools, he is best known among his peers for his extensive body of work documenting the people and culture of persons of African descent.  During the last years of his life, he devoted his time to cultural exchange ventures which linked like-minded photographers from around the world. 

Between 1978 and 2003, he made eighteen trips to Cuba, initially making personal connections with his Cuban family.  For his last three trips, he invited American photographers to accompany him to meet and discuss photography with Cuban photographers which resulted in two comprehensive exhibits both in Cuba and in Washington, DC. 

Nestor’s photo prints were being sold for an appalling $3.00 each at the market.  Working with members of a local photography association, we learned that Nestor’s father had placed his son’s collection in a self-storage unit at a commercial facility after Nestor died in 2006.  The father never told the rest of the family and when he himself died unexpectedly a year later, the bill for the storage unit remained unpaid until it was auctioned off recently.  The family is devastated by the loss and this echoes what has happened around the country with family collections, like the Malcolm X Papers and the photographs of Teenie “One Shot” Harris, for example.

The photography community is equally devastated by the loss and by the way Nestor’s legacy is being scattered to the winds.  The vendors informed us that everything had already been sold although they were previously apprised of the situation and were made an offer to purchase everything that was left.  An arts attorney said that nothing could be done about the prints since the storage bin sale was legitimate.  However, the creative rights to print from the negatives remains with the family regardless of the fact that the vendors claim they don’t know who they sold them to. 

The bigger picture is that we need to be more aggressive in protecting family collections, not just in the preservation sense, but in the security of our belongings. The current economic conditions have forced many families to lose their homes and family papers and other treasures are being left behind or lost in the process.  At the same time, venues such as eBay and the Antique Roadshow encourage many of us to see dollar signs on items hanging on the walls and gracing the shelves of our homes.  As guardians of family collections, or as a business person like Nestor, we need to be diligent about informing a trusted family member about the business and about the location and disposal of family collections.  In this high tech environment, this also includes keeping track of and sharing with family members the passwords to e-mail accounts, on-line business services, and website domains.   

This Historical Society of Washington, DC, the Exposure Group African American Photographers Association, and the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University are hosting a forum to address this issue on October 15^th, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the Historical Society.  The situation will be discussed from a variety of perspectives and the panelists will include an archivist, a member of the Hernandez family, a copyright specialist, an arts attorney, and a collector.  This event is free and open to the public.

Speakers include:

Syreeta N. Swann Joseph, Copyright specialist; Larry Frazier, Attorney for Wills, Estates & Probate Law; Philip Merrill, Founder of Nanny Jack & Co., author, historian, and former appraiser of Black Memorabilia on PBS' Antiques Roadshow; Allan Stypeck

Owner of Second Story Books / Senior Member; Yvonne Hernandez, Sister, Nestor Hernandez, Jr.; Donna M. Wells, Prints and Photo Librarian at Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, author, historian, co-author of Legacy: Treasures of Black History

Historical Society of Washington, DC / 801 K Street, NW / Washington, DC 20001

Donna M. Wells / Prints and Photographs Librarian / Moorland-Spingarn Research Center / Howard University / 500 Howard Place, NW / Washington, DC 20059 / (202) 806-7480 / fax:  (202) 806-6405 dwells@howard.edu  

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