Jennifer Huxta is an amazing photographer, writer, and teacher. While she was in Paris recently, she taught a writing workshop for teens at the American Library and put together a great exhibit of her work there. I felt lucky to talk to her about Paris, her projects, and photography.

What brought you to Paris?

I studied French in high school and I knew that for the life I dreamed to have, involving lots of travel, I would need to speak French fluently. I knew that only living in France would give me the solid language foundation that I could build on. So after college I put all my strength behind the decision to come to France, worked 3 jobs and saved my money and came to Paris; I was fascinated by French writers and photographers and also curious about the expatriate writers and photographers who came here by chance, by exile, by choice.

At first I didn’t know a single person and had lots of time to walk the city and write and wander and make pictures. At the same time, I had no money, and there was always an undercurrent of fear and worry about money. It was an interesting puzzle, both personally and in the end, artistically, as there was time to explore and ask many questions and make many notes (written and visual). and my personal English language, which at first was full of slang and idiosyncrasy, became pared down so that people could understand me. And the French that I was learning and speaking was at first very basic and simple, so I learned about who I could be without sassy slang and cracking jokes. It was a relief to finally learn enough French to be funny again! and build a French language structure strong enough to hold my personality.

What keeps you in Paris?

I’m always breaking up with Paris and coming back.

What books are on your nightstand?

Travels with Herodotus by Kapuscinski. There’s a revelation on every page. Reborn, Sontag’s journals. Africa United, How Football Explains Africa by Steve Bloomfield. Walter Benjamin’s Oeuvres Volume III. The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank

What inspired you to become a photographer?

After junior high I won a scholarship to an environmental education program about 30 miles from my hometown. I was passionate about the curriculum and I completely fell in love with everyone there–I felt that finally I met other people who shared my feeling of consequence for our actions in the world. I wanted to document every second of the experience and photograph my new friends. I grew up in a rural part of Pennsylvania that was mostly forest and cornfields. Now all those fields are identical housing developments. I was 16 when the “development” started, and I was furious about it; as kids we were always playing in the woods or trespassing in the cornfield. There was a dry creek bed in the cornfield, and it started filling up with old wood, then PVC pipes, leaking paint cans and caulk containers, an oil drum. I brought my camera to photograph the construction debris. That summer, I mailed the photos to the Department of Environmental Resources with a letter notifying them of the site, and expressing concern about river pollution, as the creek bed still ran during heavy rains. A DER representative came to the site in September. Stunned, I saw that the debris was gone, the creek bed had been filled in with earth, the entire contour of the land had been altered. A construction worker marched over, What are you doing here? I immediately asked him what had happened to all the debris that was there. He completely denied the existence of the construction debris and claimed he knew nothing about it. I asked again, “What did you do with the trash that was there!?”

He finally stopped denying it when I showed him the photographs.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

This is what I’ve been thinking about a lot lately:
“The warrior’s approach is to say “yes” to life… We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. When we talk about settling the world’s problems we’re barking up the wrong tree. The world is perfect. It’s a mess. It has always been a mess. We are not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives.” ~Joseph Campbell

What advice would you give to a budding photographer?

Follow your instincts and Listen inside rather than outside of yourself for ideas and guidance. But also seek out mentors. Dreams become reality but it takes a lot of hard work and tenacity.

What is the best job you have ever had?

I’ve had so many jobs! I’ve learned an indelible lesson from every single one. For awhile in college I worked as a waitress at a vegan espresso bar that was carved out of an old garage in Pittsburgh. All of my friends and I were always hanging out there anyway, hosting poetry readings and DJing parties at night. The owner became a good friend and mentor in many ways, I learned a lot about the self-created life from him.

What’s next?

I’m moving to Nairobi, Kenya to begin a series of reportage photography projects and to continue working with NGOs as a communications photographer.

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