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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 15th, 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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The photographs of Nestor Hernández, Jr.—Nestor
Hernandez, Jr. departed this life on Friday, May 12,
2006 in Washington, DC. He was 45. Nestor will be missed
by the many, many people whose lives he touched.
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updated 26 September 2008
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