John G. Evans has been influenced as an accomplished poet by renowned American Poet Annie Finch PhD who mentored John through a three – month mentorship with his first manuscript entitled Vehemence: In Silence We Weep. Evans’ desire to become a writer | poet was born out of an urgency to express his story from a trauma-related scenario serving active duty with the USMC.
John draws from his soul. He excavates deeply emotional experiences from raw and hungry places requiring holistic healing and love. The healing power of the poetic written word or the photographic print coalesced with his skills as an analytic photographer/poet who moves in swiftly demonstrating the experiences of humanity perpetuated through a world of darkness creates within us an empowerment to heal. Evans is not afraid to reveal the wounds of his life and reveal his truths to peoples indigenous to life’s traumas.
Attending the University of Incarnate Word studying religious studies Evans discovered pain could be rewritten, formed, and created to become art. Evans, a former US Marine 1971-1972 and PTSD and Spinal Cord Injury Survivor, embraces the written word and the photographic print through a free-verse poetic and creative non-fiction venue.
Embraced by his passion for photography/writing as his imperative for creative expressionism through many subject matters i.e. equality, sexism, racism, traumas, MST, Male Supremacy, domestic violence and child abuse.
John Gregory Evans’ credentials are poetry and photography with The Homecoming Project 2013 at https://time.com/3790664/erin-triebs-homecoming-project-capturing-war-through-veteran-tales/ , The Upper Room Magazine 2003, The Literary Journal The Manatee from Southern New Hampshire University 2016, Vehemence: In Silence We Weep edited by renown Poet and Scholarly Writer Annie Finch at https://anniefinch.com and I AM: The Tiny Mustard Seed 2017, was also written, edited, and published by John Gregory Evans.
I am an accomplished poet/writer for the cause of the individual soul traumatized by the social, economic, religious, theological, jurisprudent society and with an etymologic fire to create beautiful literary images within a broken world.
I suppose photography and writing have been my passions since about age twelve. I’ve embraced these leisure’s since and through to retirement age, so I have not ever worked professionally at either. I am primarily self-taught but have engaged with other photographers learning the skills necessary to focus properly, edit, post-processing, and print my own work, though printing I seriously enjoy prints provided by professionals.
Serious photographers who are self-taught like joeyl.com, David du Chemin, Erin Trieb, and working through a Master Class with Annie Leibovitz has led me to a point of aspiring to create vision with my work. I have inclinations to be a creative artist but always sense my vision could use work. I am simply being honest here because I do not know it all but “to be creative is to be close to God,” and drives me forward to aspire to excel the artistry of photography and even photojournalism. It is an imperative to tell a story with a portrait. Using words helps, too. But dependent upon my vision entails transparency and it is here I am turning a corner in my own life.
I know I am an integral part within the #MeToo Movement in as much as MST is concerned, but there also is still much to a man’s life he wishes to not acknowledge with the public. However, I do wish to become a Gallery participant and am working this route presently. I feel my work could express an urgency to show MST is regardless of how the military members are trained to disengage with all criteria related to survivors. It is an issue I wish through my photography to bring to the forefront of the Fine Art arena. And thus, I work towards this goal.
