ETHAN PAYNE
The Man, the Mith, the Legend.
Photographer and filmmaker Ethan Payne is on assignment with Lonnie Holley as he tours across Germany. Explore Prague, Portugal, and Gatlinburg? through his 35mm lens. Guten Tag!
4/23
Berlin Wall
Lonnie found some inspiration at a section of the wall in Freidrichshain, where he likened the climate of Cold War East/West Berlin to the US Border Wall debate. Walls are meant to be torn down, I think he was saying.
5/13
Berlin
As my friend Jason and I walked around his recent new home of Berlin, we saw this message. The past two days had been spent, interestingly enough, discussing our artists careers and the love/hate/despise/need for Instagram. How much has it really helped us? Or has it not because we aren’t dedicated enough to satisfy a larger audience’s thirst and taste? Such a strange and upsetting mirror most times.
Forgive my train handwriting.
Train from Berlin to Prague
I’m literally in between two incredible weeks exploring cities with people I adore. This coming directly after a dizzying yet intensely inspiring separate two weeks working on tour documenting Lonnie Holley’s shows. This is the view from seat on the train taking me between my Berlin loves and my Prague loves.
This book, recommended by my dear friend and collaborator, Ryan Monahan, has been an enormous influence on my work (lately) with Lonnie. Campbell talks at length of the hero’s need to descend into darkness and reemerge to fulfull their destiny. When I consider the darkness Lonnie has overcome—intense physical and emotional trauma, illness, being overlooked, cut down, criticized, not to mention racism… I can’t help but think he is entering his moment(s) of victory, of affirmation, his genius is finally being applauded.
On a similar note, connecting Lonnie’s work to this book is the title of his new record, “MITH.” He saw a gravestone for someone named Smith but the S had worn away. In the van, on stage, he’s obsessed with ‘smithing.’ To work something, to hammer it until it becomes something else. He’s a wordsmith, a brainsmith, and without the ‘S’ the word becomes something else that fascinates him. Myth, the mythical, the mystical. Sometimes as he performs it really seems like he leaves his body and some other force or being takes over. Its apparent to me, but also to people who have known Lonnie closely almost their entire lives.
Ethan is a photographer and documentary filmmaker living in Atlanta, Ga. His work has been featured in Oxford American, ArtsATL and the Bitter Southerner, and his “Soundies” series has heralded acts such as Punch Brothers, Chairlift, and Dr. Dog. He plays music with his band Easter Island and loves telling stories about the forgotten, tossed away south.