In an interview with Arts&Culture, Hale said the Art Talk is intended for him to share his years of experience as a photographer. The experienced artist who was born in the United States of America but lives in France says he plans to stimulate and challenge assumptions through this event. “I also want to share how I have employed this medium to show those who are either unable to travel for lack of financial resources, fear or responsibilities to see what exists outside the boundaries of where to see what exists outside the boundaries of where they live and in doing so, to stimulate dialogue and challenge assumptions,” Hale said.
He said the idea to host the Art Talk came after one of his friends Yrneh was awarded the prestigious 2024 Fulbright Research Fellowship to come to Botswana. “He asked if I would like to be part of his research team. Being passionate about travel and learning and with little knowledge of this part of Africa, I immediately say, yes, to this remarkable opportunity,” he added. Hale is an experienced photographer who has travelled around the world. His images are characterised by clarity and simplicity, with an extraordinary eye for light and shadow. Whether animate or inanimate, Hale feels his subjects have an inner essence, and, if handled with patience and sensitivity, this essence will reveal itself.
His goal is to allow it to live in print. Hale’s images, essentially portraiture, have been printed in such publications as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Village Voice, The LA Weekly, Black Enterprise, and a variety of national and international publications. He has volunteered his photographic services to the Los Angeles Children’s Museum, Aids Project Los Angeles, LA Shanti, AIDS Service Centre in Pasadena, California, as well as serving on the Board of Directors for The Black Gallery Group, Los Angeles, California. He currently is a member of Photocontact, a photographic association in southern France. Hale also has images in several collections, including a portrait of the legendary “Mama of Dada”, Beatrice Wood that resides in the Permanent Collection of the Smithsonian Institute’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, as well as the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
Although he spent the last 20 years building a successful career as an account executive, he describes this time as “years in which I had lost my courage.” It wasn’t until he reached his middle years, having made a cross-country trip with two actor friends that he determined to commit himself fully to the passion of his youth. Eschewing financial security, in 1996 he left the corporate world and returned to the world of art. Since then his progress in the world of photography has been phenomenal.
