Stanley Greene Shines Forever
Kabul, Afghanistan. July 2008
Stanley Greene was a visual poet and like all great poets he found darkness in light and light in darkness. It was such a gift to be asked to be a board member of the Stanley Greene Foundation. In preparing to launch the Stanley Greene Foundation I had the privilege of going through a lifetime of Stanley's images and it took me back to the days Stanley and I would sit in a hotel room in Paris, a cafe at Visa Pour l'Image in Perpignan or wherever we happened to be together. We would sit on the floor and spread out all our black and white contact sheets, look and talk. What a treat it was to revisit that time.
As I looked at the images you’ll find here, Stanley was with me once again. As I thought about what we could use on this website I could hear his voice in my head every time I debated with myself, is this photo too difficult, too harsh to look at, too raw, every time I thought it might be I heard Stanley saying, "Scott, you can't cut those pictures, they must be seen!"
For years Stanley and I would meet at Visa Pour l'Image, the incredible photojournalism festival started by fellow board member, Jean-Francois Leroy. When we were there together, we had this ritual. We never went to the shows until the Sunday after the festival closed. Mind you, we would party all Saturday night and greet the sun together. We'd then hit a cafe for numerous coffees and head to the shows. We could be ruthless in our critiques and enthralled by what we loved. Our discussions always came down to one thing: had the photographer found their light?
We weren't talking just about how they used light, but also that internal, emotional, intense light that makes all of us unique. It's that light we search for and strive to claim and reclaim. Stanley's light burned as bright as any. Brighter. This foundation exists to remember him, to introduce his work to new generations, and to ensure that the light that was—and is—Stanley Greene shines forever.
Scott Thode
Scott Thode is an independent curator, editor, teacher and photographer. He has served as President of the W. Eugene Smith Fund for the past three years.
Previously, Scott was the Residency Program Director and curator at New York City SALT. He has co-curated numerous exhibitions with Kathy Ryan, including Look3 Festival of the Photograph, The School of Visual Arts and The Cortona On the Move Photo Festival; and independently, at the Photofest Querétaro in Mexico.
As a visual editor, Scott has worked for E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth and was the editor of VII The Magazine. For years, he was the Deputy Picture Editor at Fortune Magazine. As a photographer, Scott was the recipient of numerous photography awards and his work has been exhibited at Visa Pour L’Image in Perpignan, France, The Biennale Internazionale di Fotografia in Turin, Italy, The Colonnade Gallery in Washington, D.C. and Photographic Nights of Selma Festival in Selma, Alabama, and other group shows.
Scott teaches at The International Center for Photography and has taught at The School for Visual Arts in New York City.