Photographers on Photographers: Emily Rena Williams in Conversation with Kristine Potter - LENSCRATCH
Every August we ask the previous Top 25 Lenscratch Student Prize Winners to interview a hero or a mentor, offering an opportunity for conversation and connection. Today Emily Rena Williams and Kristine Potter are in dialogue. Thank you to both of the artists. I first encountered Kristine Potter’s prints in person at The Do Good Fund, a
via LENSCRATCH: https://lenscratch.com/2025/08/photographers-on-photographers-emily-rena-williams-in-conversation-with-kristine-potter/
In The Gray Line, I was trying to understand a highly codified expression of masculinity, military identity, and how young men make sense of it. There was reverence in that work, or at least a sense of careful attention. Manifest was more confrontational. I was chipping away at a cultural fantasy, the rugged cowboy, and showing the vulnerability underneath. With Dark Waters, I turned the lens more squarely on violence itself. The shift there was also emotional. I was not trying to understand men, I was trying to visualize the psychological cost of living in a world shaped by their dominance, especially for women