James O'Neal
Photographer and Daughter at work.
Photograph by Harvey Finkle,
copyright 2000
James O'Neal grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Greenville, South Carolina, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. During his teenage years, O'Neal met Gordon Parks at a demonstration. Parks gave him a copy of his book A Choice of Weapons. This event opened O'Neal's eyes to using the camera as a tool for social change. After attending photographic school in Philadelphia, O'Neal spent five years apprenticing with Don Jackson. Jackson was one of the first black photographers in Philadelphia to break the color line in commercial photography. Through Jackson, O'Neal further refined his commitment to using a camera in the cause of social justice. After his apprenticeship with Jackson, O'Neal spent a number of years as a freelance photojournalist, and his work has appeared in such newspapers as the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Tribune, the New Observer, and the Jewish Exponent. During this time he was also involved in documenting visits by artists-of-color from around the world who traveled to work at the print-shop of Brandywine Graphics in Philadelphia. In recent years he made several documentary trips to Jamaica, Britain, and West Africa, and he spent eighteen months in Ghana photographing aspects of the social life of Anlo-Ewe people. His most recent exhibit was "African Lifeworlds: Anlo-Ewe People of Ghana" in Santa Fe, New Mexico at The Exhibit Space of the James Hart Photography studio (from March 9th - April 5th, 2001). Photography for James O'Neal is about bearing witness and taking part in history through his lens.
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