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July 3, 2025 26 mins

Have you ever considered that the most profound creative education might not happen in a classroom? What if it unfolds in the buzz of a print shop or behind the lens at a world-changing cultural event?

In this episode, I sit down with legendary photographer Roy Lewis, whose journey is a powerful testament to learning by doing. Roy shares how his early days in a Mississippi print shop ignited his creative spark, leading to an unconventional path where Ebony and Jet magazines became his university. He offers a firsthand account of documenting FESTAC '77, the monumental gathering of Black artists and intellectuals in Lagos, Nigeria, and explains how these experiences shaped his iconic eye.

This conversation is an intimate look into a life spent capturing our stories, reminding us that the richest lessons often come from the journey itself, not a predetermined map.

Chapters

 

00:00 Introduction to Roy Lewis and His Journey

02:53 Early Influences and First Steps in Photography

06:03 Building Relationships in the Photography World

08:59 Finding His Voice as a Photographer

11:37 The Significance of Festac 1977

14:46 Experiences and Memories from Festac

18:00 Reflections on Cultural Impact and Legacy




Learn more about Roy:

https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/roy-lewis-40

 

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Website: www.martineseverin.com
Follow on Instagram: @martine.severin | @thisishowwecreate_
Subscribe to the Newsletter: www.martineseverin.substack.com

This is How We Create is produced by Martine Severin. This episode was edited by Daniel Espinosa.

 

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to This Is How We Create, a show that digs deeper into the creative life ofcontemporary artists of color.
Discover what feeds their creativity and how they found or are finding their artisticvoice.
Through these intimate and candid conversations, you'll gain insights into the lives ofcreative professionals of color that are hard to find anywhere else.

(00:21):
So picture this, a young man in 1950s Mississippi working at a print shop, watchingstories.
come to life through ink and paper.
Now we're going to fast forward two decades and that same person is standing in a packstadium in Lagos, Nigeria, camera in hand, documenting what would become one of the most

(00:49):
significant cultural gatherings in modern history.
I recently sat down with photographer
Roy Lewis, who you're going to hear on this episode.
Roy's unconventional path challenges everything we think we know about artistic education.

(01:09):
In a world where black stories and images mattered, Ebony and Jet Magazine was the perfectplace for him to explore spaces where he could thrive artistically and, you know,
sometimes the most
profound and creative education that we can get is on the job.

(01:30):
Roy currently lives on the East Coast, but he was generous enough to sit down with me onthe phone to talk about his life, to talk about how he has really fine tuned his creative
eye, as well as give us the lowdown on what it was like to actually attend Festac 1977.

(01:53):
Now, if you managed to catch our episode on Festac 1977, we go a lot deeper in thisconversation with Roy Lewis.
I'm so excited for you to listen to Roy because you'll learn so much more, particularlyabout the people who have laid the foundation for us to be thriving as artists and

(02:15):
creatives in this modern age.
This conversation reminds us that artistry
thrives not only in school halls in terms of us learning how to become an artist, but italso thrives in learning, in learning on the go, in learning through trial and error, and
learning at the hands of life experience.

(02:39):
Enjoyed this episode with Rory Lewis.
I learned a lot in terms of some tips and tricks that I can apply to my creative career asa photographer.
I hope that there are a few nuggets that you'll be able to pick up and apply to your ownartistry and to your own creative life.
I'm so glad you're here.
Enjoy the show.

(03:02):
How are you?
I'm alright, how are you doing?
I'm doing okay.
Um, thank you so much for making some time to chat with me.
Alright.
Okay, so first, as we start out, the first question I have for you is about your firstmemories as a young boy around creativity or around art.

(03:28):
Do you remember when you first thought, I think I could potentially be an artist?
Well, I don't, I didn't think of myself being an artist, you know, when I first startedtaking pictures, which was in the fifties in Nazism, Mississippi, where I grew up.

(03:51):
know, in high school, working at a print shop and that published a newspaper and theeditor, Bill Williams was a photographer.
writer and editor of the newspaper in that Mississippi name of the paper was the NewNatchez Leader, which has now become the City Post, so it's still functioning.

(04:19):
oh But I was someone there learning to trade, which was printing.
I I selected printing.
They had sort of a vocational trading aspect in our high school.
where you could select a craft or a trade, and I select a printing.

(04:40):
And so uh that would be my first.
Not that I didn't think of creating things before there, because I always had a greatimagination, which is, think, uh one of the aspects of creativity is having an imagination
and being able to visualize

(05:02):
things that you're thinking about.
And so in that environment around a newspaper where we're printing and doing posters andflyers and invitations and tickets and cars, you know, all that is creative environment.
And then the newspaper, we put publishing a newspaper every, every week, which I laterbecame like a distribution person.

(05:32):
and also was a paperboy.
So I think probably the first, when you're dealing with news traders, you're dealing withnews.
Yeah, that's you in the arts, you're in the praying arts, you're in the distribution arts,you're around creatures, you've been to writers, charlatans, editors.
So I think that news trade with being involved with that news trade would be like my firstbeing involved in the creative community.

(06:02):
I read that you purchased your first camera at the age of 25.
Can you tell me the story of how you came to decide on purchasing your first camera?
You know, I purchased my first camera when I was in high school.
It was a Brownie and sent the film off to Kodak and, uh, you know, got the pictures backand, uh, that Kodak was, you know, like, was with me all the time and taking pictures of,

(06:37):
of student activities, a trip that we went on to Tuskegee and Talladega.
And I actually.
pictures of the trip and so that was like my first involvement with actually takingpictures of the group.
Over a period of say three or four days it was like my first assignment.

(07:00):
The thing you're talking about is when I was in service on the $25 camera from anothersoldier who just came back from Korea and so that was my first 35 millimeter professional
camera.
So as a freelance photographer, you worked for publications like Jet, Ebony.

(07:22):
Can you tell me how you went about creating those relationships in order to sustain acareer as a freelance photographer?
Well, opportunity working in a publication, like working at the newspaper, exposed me toBill Williams and editors and writers in the environment of creativity.

(07:51):
That's a newspaper publication.
And so being in the service of having a camera to take pictures of the other soldiers,take pictures of my environment where I was.
and joint inspections.
These are opportunities that, you know, if you have a camera and you're taking pictures ofpeople and you're selling those pictures to those people, i.e.

(08:18):
to soldiers, then, oh you know, and you lead the army, you go back to my job at JohnsonPublishing Company where they have magazines, have publications, and they have writers.
And so that being back in that environment allowed me to be able to take photos oh andpractice, you know, craft of photography.

(08:48):
And so I was able to be in that environment, which as you know, oh the environment had youin as the part-task as the writer.
If you have the tools to do that, if you have the equipment to do that.
And that helps me being at Johnson Publicity, where I had the opportunities to work andaccept to sign this and go out and shoot photos and submit them to Zetback to Evan

(09:17):
magazine later, where you're getting uh pictures published on a regular basis.
You're getting pictures published, you're not a photographer, wasn't a photographer forJohnson, but I did.
do assignments for them and I worked in the subscription department dealing with data andsubscriptions, the magazine subscription, promoting the magazine, these are the kind of

(09:45):
things that I did.
At Johnson, I worked for Johnson Public Company like 15 years.
That must have been quite a time.
um Because I think in so many ways that was kind of the height of Jet Magazine and Ebonyin terms of being where black Americans went to to get their news and to get uh

(10:12):
information about like about the culture.
I wonder if that was exciting or did you feel like you were part of this thing andsomething?
It was exciting.
Can you imagine being at the top of a, you know, this is...
I was hired when I was just 19 years old, way out of high school.
So, you know, exciting.

(10:33):
mean, there was a little more than that.
I mean, it was a job that I was working at and learning.
I tell the story that, you know, basically it was where I went to college.
I mean, I did attend other schools and, you know, I went to...
Well, J.G.
College and then later finished in Adyark.

(10:54):
put uh Dean in that environment.
That's why I keep mentioning environment when you're around art being created, aroundstories being created, around magazines being published on a regular basis, then you are
seeing all aspects of publications on a regular basis.

(11:15):
that's for me, it's like a
University, used to tell Mrs.
Ashton then when I was talking to people I told them that I went to school that's askedofficer company, university, which APC university, which for me, that's what it was like
these people who fraction that trade every day in our regular basis.

(11:39):
Wow, that is that that's wonderful training, isn't it?
All right.
I guess the next question I have for you is about how you've built, uh you created orfound your voice as a photographer.
uh Because I mean, it's different for everyone.
Some people, they they have it from day one, right?

(12:01):
But then for some other people, they really have to.
they do it through uh iteration and I wonder how your experience has been.
My experience is getting the opportunity to work, be hired by Mr.
Johnson because my godmother taught him in high school.

(12:22):
And having the opportunity to be in an environment where I'm learning as I go and beingaround other professional photographers and writers and artists, being able to see them do
their craft.
And I'm learning from them and getting critiques from photographers and someone who helpedme was processing my work and analyzing my work and giving me advice on my work.

(12:52):
I am studying with a photographer for a series of classes for six months to nine months ora year with other photographers and learning from each other in that environment.
I didn't go to school officially.
take classes for photography, but I learned by doing it and by getting the opportunity todo it for Jed, for Ebony, and the editors giving me their input on, we'll do this, do

(13:23):
that, we want this, you can do that.
And so uh that's like every day, you know, every assignment is a class.
And I was fortunate enough to have my work published
in jet first and then they grow digest and then ebony and so having those uh landmarks orthose important publications in our community was uh the best way you know you sometimes

(13:57):
you go and you learn your trade or your craft and then you get chance and opportunitylater to uh to say or to have it published
That process for me was an ongoing process as I was learning.
That sounds like a really great way of learning.
I was talking with someone else who is an interior designer and she's a black interiordesigner and I asked her, so I read in your bio in terms of all the interviews that she's

(14:26):
done, everyone says that she's self-taught, she's self-taught.
And she says, no, I'm not self-taught, I'm taught by experience.
And I feel like in so many ways that's what you were just telling us that it's throughexperience and interactions and
through iteration that you have become, you know, the notable photographer that you are.

(14:49):
Right, yeah, it's a great opportunity and I'm very fortunate.
This don't just happen, you know, it's, you have to have the opportunity.
You have to have someone who believes in your work and that I got a lot of, a lot ofencouragement, a lot of encouragement.

(15:12):
And so, you know, so I was able to,
take advantage of that opportunity and it's helped my career.
It's helped me become a stronger photographer, a stronger person.
A lot of times, as you know, when you have work to do that you like to do, it influencesyour life.

(15:37):
really does.
All right.
So at this point, I'd love for us to turn our attention to Festac.
So we are almost 50 years, almost about to celebrate 50 years since Festac 77.
And so you were, you participated, you attended Festac and you were there for nearly amonth in January to February of 77.

(16:05):
So we know that Festac
is the largest Pan-African festival of its kind, and it brought together about 17,000artists, performers, intellectuals, and we had about 55 African and diaspora nations who
attended.
Can you tell me a little bit about what you did when you were at Festac, and what are someof your memories from that festival?

(16:37):
Well, first, you you didn't just go.
There was a selection process in each country.
A lot of the countries probably sent delegations that that was what they did.
I mean, they performed that was there, troops from that country.
But in America, you had to literally submit work and you was there with an evaluation andselection process.

(17:06):
you had to submit work.
And so I submitted a couple photos.
had a couple photos.
was darn it, Trent, my daughter, in the West Indies.
Another one was a banjo player in New Orleans who were very famous.
And so those two pictures went for the exhibition.
Of course, Festac was uh dealt with overall cultural aspect of how being here in America.

(17:35):
and what we've created here as some of the things that we, uh people who have been herefor 500 years, 600 years, and who have blended a lot of the different cultures, some
different aspects from other places.

(17:55):
And we went as the US African-American zone culture, just like Cubans and people fromAustralia.
they came representing their countries.
we basically, because the State Department didn't really sanction, it was something thatthey wanted to do the way they wanted to do it.

(18:16):
Well, that's not the way it happened.
So we went as artists and musicians and poets and writers.
The stack, as you know, itself was a comprehensive teach dealing with all aspects ofculture, colloquium, architectural stuff, music, dance, drama.
There were three venues in Lagos, Nigeria that had sports hall, had a tallow off of asquare, and then you had a national theater.

(18:46):
And so all these places, every day that we were there, things were going on at thesedifferent places.
And so my participation was because I was a photographer for FESTAC, for the NorthAmerican Zone.
was to photograph these events, our participants, our participants in the events.

(19:12):
That's what we had on our VAD participants.
And so since I was with the press, I got a red press badge, which gave me full access.
And so we've covered, you know, our performances, but we also covered other countries,that these different locations.

(19:33):
And, you know, we, it was like an Olympic setup.
know, we had housing for each country, had their own buildings, own transportation, buses,vans, cars.
And so, you know, my job was to move from different places, you know, from differentevents and photograph these events.

(19:58):
Opening day.
which was spectacular, everybody in the stadium, the stadium was packed.
It was people from all over the world, but primarily people in Nigeria or Lagos.
A lot of people did come from different spots.
think we, it was about 500 of us, of just our group alone, two planes.

(20:19):
One first plane came over first day, we had opening and then we,
The plane came over, the first group got on that plane and went back to second plane.
People stayed.
so we were, it was the crack being around your people from other countries.

(20:46):
That's the other thing, even though we didn't speak each other language, kind of dancedfor, course, to figure out a way to talk to each other.
Same thing with photographers and cinematographers.
and musicians, you know.
So anyway, we assemble, we went around the stadium, assembled it in the middle of thefield, just like you do with the Olympics, you have society, each country's siren in front

(21:12):
of it.
And that happened opening day and closing day.
And so between that, I got an opportunity to go to the derby in the north part of Kadunaand photograph that.
A lot of the people didn't get a chance to go up.
because, you know, grew up there was a good ways away.

(21:33):
It was a good ways away.
And so anyway, you know, it was just great.
I mean, it's one of the greatest experience.
It's one of the greatest experience.
One of the greatest experience I've ever experienced.
I mean, it's one of the highlights of my career as a photographer, as someone interested,someone interested in culture, not just our culture.

(21:59):
major culture.
mean, this was like the top.
I mean, it was the top of everything.
If you want to talk about.
I'm sure that there are pictures, there are books being produced.
As a matter of fact, there's a book that you, I don't know, that you ordered that bookwhen you were at that opening at Explore Chicago.
It's available on Festac.

(22:20):
There are other, there are other books available.
Marin, Mel and Nash have won.
So there are books around.
Ebony Magazine did a special issue on Festa.
Ozier Mohan did the cover.
I did photographs in there.
He did photographs in there.

(22:42):
And then I put together a slide presentation that I selected slides from some of the otherphotographers who went.
And we did a tour, the North American Zone directors.
Two or three of us, we went around the country, recorded.
to the different zones to read your slide presentations to show what went on to differentaudiences around the country, LA, Chicago, DC, New York.

(23:11):
And so that's, you know, it was one of those events that didn't get the kind ofpublication, publicity in America as it got in other countries.
There's that book that was put out by South African and British school.
Uh, that's available, kick on Amazon, the South-Island Sculls, I think, I'm sure it'savailable, I'm fairly certain it's still, still available.

(23:37):
It sounds like it must have been just full of joy and just being around like-minded peopletoo.
There's a sense of connection that that brings and I can imagine how that would have beenthe highlight of your career as you mentioned.
can only imagine.

(23:59):
know, they say if I could time travel, I would say.
I think that's certainly...
something I would, an event I would like to time travel to.
Must have been wonderful.
Well, we have come to our time together.
Mr.
Lewis, I just wanted to say thank you.
I really uh appreciate this conversation.

(24:20):
And I absolutely loved meeting you at Expo Chicago.
That was quite interesting how that experience went for me.
I was leaving when I ran into you and...
You've definitely charmed me into coming to look at your exhibit.
And I had a wonderful time and as well as an awakening.

(24:44):
So I want to thank you so much for your time as well as for the dedication that you haveto your work.
that you had a good time and and I hope that this show you know helped and especiallyduring this period of general change coming up tomorrow and so for us to be talking about

(25:10):
one of the great historic pieces going on paying tribute to to our historic and you knowthis important date
that was important in our history in America.
to be a partner, I appreciate you interviewing me and me being able to give some of myimpressions on this stack and my work and show.

(25:38):
appreciate it.
Thanks a lot.
There, I have a quick favor to ask you before you go.
If you're loving this show, would you mind taking a quick second to leave us a five-starreview on your favorite go-to podcast app?
Here's the thing.
Those reviews are like magic fairy dust.

(26:01):
They help other creators of color discover our show and tap into their own artisticsuperpowers.
While you're at it, why not subscribe to our sub stack
newsletter Creative Matters.
Creative Matters is like a weekly dose of inspiration delivered straight to your inbox.

(26:22):
You can find the link to subscribe in the show notes.
Alright, that's all that I have for you today.
I can't wait to see you on the next episode.
Bye!
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