The Amos Fortune Forum hosted its fourth speaker of the 2023 summer on Friday, as photographer Joan Baker presented “Through the Lens of My Camera: The Essence of Woman” at the Jaffrey Meetinghouse.
A longtime friend of moderator moderator Sue Chollet, Baker is a New York City native who now lives in Santa Fe, N.M., and her collection of “70 women from 50 countries,” which featured India’s female garbage workers, was presented at the United Nations. Her photography is largely centered around contrasting energies and balance, specifically masculine and feminine. Her memoir, “The Magnolia Code,” delves into this topic through the lens of her own life.
“I am inspired to be living in this difficult but opportunity-making time,” said Baker in the opening moments of her talk. “It has been an exhilarating 79 years for me because I have lived in a sea of change, especially for women.”
Baker began her lecture by discussing her youth in New York City with Southern parents at the close of the Great Depression. With three children, her mother and father instilled strict morals in their children while trying to find success in the Northeast. Baker, the youngest of the three, was rebellious and “wanted to make [her] own path.”
Baker went on to analyze many of her photographs juxtaposed with several traditional depictions of the feminine aura, from the Virgin Mary and Eve in the Garden of Eden to cartoonish images of witches. Moving away from famous paintings and stereotypes, Baker began to dissect her own work. Of one collection from her time in Mexico, she compared her images of a woman there to the idyllic advertised housewives of 1960s America.
“I have to say, I looked at this image and when I was photographing I imagined she was wearing high heels and had a big bow tied in the back of her apron,” said Baker. “Reminding me of 1960s ads of women in high heels joyfully opening their refrigerator door which a certain happiness, which I doubt.”
Baker’s work displayed women across seven decades and multiple countries from Mexico to India. Her chosen images for the forum depicted women as glamorous, independent, friends and determined to survive. She shared intimate personal memories, as well, including one of her mother.
“Joanie, you might as well be yourself, because everyone else is taken,” said Baker, quoting her mother.
Baker took questions from the crowd for roughly 10 minutes following her talk, sharing her thoughts on what story she would tell the younger generations of women and creators.
Friday, Aug. 4, will feature a talk by Tony Whittemore, Jeff Whittemore and Eric Strange as they tell their story of hitching a horse cart from Needham, Mass., through Jaffrey to the Montreal World’s Fair of 1967. The talk is titled “Pony Boys: The Story of an Adventure of a Lifetime.”