“There is no such thing as a great talent without great will power.” - Honore de Balzac. Patricia is an award-winning visual artist with primary progressive multiple sclerosis. When diagnosed, she channeled her creativity in photography by taking daily self-portraits that would show what it is like to live with a disability. This exciting self-projection helped Patricia positively engage in creativity and concentrate on the unique moments captured in her camera rather than focusing on the symptoms of her condition. This self-portrait essay called “Falling Into Place” won several awards such as Prague’s Photo Annual Awards and FotoVisura Grant for Outstanding Personal Photography Project. The essay has also been featured on print and television media like ABC, CBS, Huffington Post and BBC World Update to name a few. Patricia's self-portrait book “Falling Into Place was published by Ffotogallery in Cardiff, Wales and the book is now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art library in New York City. Patricia uses her book and celebrity for advocacy and education with audiences ranging from high schools to corporations. Along the way, she has picked up the nickname “Grandma techno” during her work at the annual Movement Detroit electronic music festival.

What do you love about photography?P: Photography allows me to engage with people in deep and intimate ways. No one is a stranger. When I look through the lens, I see the wonder of each individual, of each moment. Barriers break down and time no longer exists. The photos themselves are not important; it is all about that split second when my subject and I become one. Even self-portraits can connect us to ourselves.

What is your favorite photography project so far and why?P: Generally speaking, my favorite photography project is the one I’m currently working on. Right now that is a project featuring families in Detroit. But overall, I would have to say the most meaningful project I have ever worked on became the book, “Falling Into Place.” For that project I took self-projects of my day-to-day life as a woman with a disability. It was the conscious act of seeing each moment of my life as worthy of note that made me wake every morning with an air of excitement and the question on my mind, “What should I photograph today?” Instead of seeing the symptoms of the primary progressive MS with which I lived as a negative, they became a positive because they could give me unique subjects to capture with my camera.
Seeing my life as art not only changed my point of view as an artist but my attitude as a woman with a disability. This practice has inspired several long-term photo projects that feature my day-to-day life, the most recent of which - “Grandma Techno Checks In” - was exhibited at a New York photo festival in 2018. The organizers had seen photos I’d taken and posted on Instagram while in the hospital and a rehab facility during a flareup of the MS. Shortly after my being discharged, they contacted me saying they wanted to sponsor and exhibit this work. I spent a week with my exhibit at the festival and was surprised to find that these spontaneous iPhone pictures touched thousands of viewers, many of whom worked in the healthcare industry and had apparently felt unseen and undervalued. The portraits I had taken of my nurses, doctors, occupational and physical therapists showed how much they mean to patients like me. It was not unusual to see the eyes of viewers fill with tears of gratitude.

What is the idea behind your book " Falling into Place"?P: I hoped that my self-portraits would show an authentic picture of what it is like to live with a disability. I had gotten frustrated when I would see articles in print and online, movies and TV shows that showed disabled people as portrayed by non-disabled photographers, journalists, filmmakers and actors. They generally showed us as 1) heroic, and/or 2) pitiful. I didn’t feel either one reflected who I was and how I lived my life, so I decided it was up to me to show the inside view of a disabled life - my own - as truthfully as I could. While taking the self-portraits, I did my best to avoid any tendencies to exaggerate for effect, or dramatize the simple moments that make up my everyday existence. I just wanted to show my life like it really is.
After a year or more of taking these photos, I found my intention evolving into something more personal. I simply wanted to be a voice for my disabled sisters and brothers who often feel unseen, unheard, undervalued and misunderstood. I also wanted the images to serve as a prompt to encourage open dialogues between disabled and non-disabled individuals.
The book was published in 2013 and from the start it brought me to university and high school classrooms, disabled and non-disabled organizations, libraries and community spaces, and art galleries where I exhibited my prints, gave artist talks and put on events that encouraged interactive discussions in large and small groups. These in-person activities were augmented by countless online and print features in local, national and global publications.

Which photographer’s work inspires you the most and why?P: Not surprisingly, I respond most deeply to artists who photograph their own and/or others’ lives from the inside. I think of acclaimed photographers like Mary Ellen Mark whose projects on Tiny and the teens who lived on Seattle’s streets became books that helped us see these young people for who they really are, not just who they might appear as we pass them - or someone like them - on any city street.
Her first book on these young people, “Streetwise,” was published in 1988. But Mary Ellen kept up with the young teen we all came to know as Tiny, and decades later photographed her life as a middle-aged single mother of 10. Those photos became the book, “Tiny: Streetwise Revisited,” that was published six months after Mary Ellen Marks’ untimely death in 2015.
I certainly admired Mary Ellen‘s photography but more than that I admired her longtime commitment to troubled individuals like Tiny who must have felt comforted by Mary Ellen‘s care and concern. I know how much Mary Ellen’s support and encouragement of me and my photography gave me the confidence I needed to pursue my professional ambitions and continue to grow as an artist.

How do you face obstacles in life? What keeps you moving forward?P: I thought of this question this morning as my caregiver was giving me a sponge bath and happened to say, “You have a lot of determination. Most people would just give up if they were dealing with something like the MS you have to deal with.” She’s right about my being determined.
In the 30 years since I was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis, the progressions might have set me back for a while but I’m determined to be as independent as possible. So I just keep working on whatever aspect of my life needs attention. Since March 2019, that has meant learning how to use a sliding board for transfers between my scooter and my reclining lift chair where I sleep, the commode that I use for toileting, and the driver’s seat in my wheelchair accessible minivan. I may have morning and evening caregivers to help me with my now-necessary overnight diaper, but I’m pretty independent during the day, even driving myself to a women’s gathering across the river in Windsor, Ontario last Saturday.
I have found the best thing I can do for myself is to live in the present and not worry about the future. That is easier said than done but with self-discipline, I can control where my thoughts go. The truth is, I have no idea what the future will bring. All I can do is deal with this moment, this day. So that’s what I do.

What are your other hobbies?P: I don’t know if you’d call it a “hobby” but I love to spend time outside. Weather permitting, I will go for long scoots in my Amigo mobility scooter, often ending up at a nearby lakefront park where I like to sit by the water and let its soothing waves and memories of childhood wash over me. It is a large lake with an endless horizon and Canada (mostly unseen) on the other side. It gives me such a feeling of peace and connection with the world to see the horizon where sky meets water. It is my idea of prayer.

What is your suggestion for families of children with disabilities to empower their children?P:  Try to be aware of your tendency to want to protect your child from taking risks - both physical and emotional- that you fear might hurt them. Of course, you will do your best to protect them from unnecessary situations where they might be harmed, but I’m talking about the normal risks of living a full life.
I have always taken risks, both before and after I became disabled. I’m talking about the kind of risks that open your eyes, heart and mind to new ways of seeing the world, new people, places and experiences. Since the progression of the MS last March, I will certainly be more limited in where, how and even if I can travel. That just makes me more grateful that I traveled while I could, even going to Beirut, Lebanon by myself with my scooter in 2015, and to New York City for an exhibit of my photographs a year ago. I have almost always traveled by myself, but that will no longer be possible. So be it.
Just let your children be explorers of life, whatever that might mean for them with their unique abilities. Life is too short to limit oneself unnecessarily. No matter what they are dealing with, let them have a full life.

What tips/advice do you have for those in our community who want to choose photography as a career?P: If photography interests you, just to do it! Whether you use the camera on your phone or professional equipment, nothing can teach you about photography more than the act of doing it day in and day out. Yes, when I decided to become a serious photographer in 2006, I needed to take a series of classes to learn the fundamentals of using the professional camera I had just bought. Several months later I took another series to learn how to use Photoshop. But other than that, it was passion that taught me how to be a photographer. And it is passion that has sent my photographs around the world online, in books, journals and exhibits. If you love it with all your heart, you will find your way. And you will also find the teachers you need and the companions to accompany you. As for a “career,” I can’t speak to that because I’ve never made much money with my photography. If you need to make a living with photography, you’ll need to speak to someone else about that. I just know about doing it for the love of it.

Any special message for our community?P:  You are fortunate to be in a community like this where you support one another and find ways to continue to be inspired. Yes, “inspiration matters!” Use it to get outside of yourself and whatever challenges you face. Allow yourself to be inspired by all kinds of new things. I am now 77 years old and have had so many different chapters to my life, each one inspiring a new way of being in the world. That is all I ask, and it is what I have claimed by my choices. May you do the same, each in your own unique way.