Sage Gallon’s lifelong journey through addiction and other challenges has afforded him the opportunity to share his story with his art along with words that could be a source of encouragement for many of us that are living or have lived under similarly riveting circumstances. Rarely do we dare to talk about the dark side, but Sage does just that, through his provocative art. Sage, a multi-media artist living in Los Angeles, was named as one of the 40 Black Artists to watch in NBC’s, The Grio. Crack(s), Sage’s photographic essay, was featured in the Huffington Post in 2014. It documents “Baby Dee,” a young man caught in the throes of drug abuse.
HAF: Sage, talk a little about Crack(s), your photo documentation of a young man struggling with his addition to crack. Knowing that you lived in the grips of crack addiction yourself, how did you prepare for the shoot?
Sage: I shot my Crack(s) series in 2012. In many ways this was one of the most difficult shoots of my life. Crack(s) was in part a document of my relapse. Personally, I felt the need to capture my own desperation and isolation that comes with battling an addiction. But Crack(s) is more than an addiction, it’s an entity, a demon that will take you into the gates of Hell. Though the series is about a man who smokes crack, it reaches a broader audience; we all have our Crack(s). On the larger scale though, I wanted to capture the beauty, pain, and humanity of a person who was struggling with the addiction. People who are struggling are not necessarily “bad” people. I found that to be the case especially with the subject of this piece, Baby Dee, an attractive man in his mid to late 30s and one of profound intelligence and humor.
HAF: In response to your remark about how there are other Crack(s) that have ill effects on people, what sort of Crack(s) could be included in your analogy?
Sage: All sorts… From sex to money and power, to holding on to pain, anything that grips us, holds us from our truths, cracks are the things we fall through.
HAF: You shot this series in 2012. What type of reaction has this project received from the community? Where has this collection been exhibited?
Sage: In January, 2013, Crack(s) was my first exhibit. We had the Los Angeles premiere at the Santa Monica airport. In January of 2014, I was named as one of the 40 Black Artist to watch in NBC’s The Grio where Crack(s) was featured and in February of 2014 the series was featured in The Huffington Post. We had the NY premiere of Crack(s) in a gallery on the lower east side called WallPlay. It was very successful; I displayed about 30 paintings as well as the series. The gallery extended the exhibit. The reactions have been amazing, they span from shock, rage, sadness to empathy.
for more information on Sage Gallon
click to see The Huffington Post article about Sage’s “Crack(s)”
http://www.sagegallon.com/#!food/c234g