Stephen's Grave, Landsdowne and Stephen's End Portrait of a Sharon's Brother by David Walker

From Sharon Hill, Stephen’s sister: There’s nothing like it, nothing like the pain I wear on Stephen’s death. Until you put on them shoes, until you in that skin, you will never know. You will never know the devastation of losing someone you love so dearly, abruptly. The devastation becomes—no, the unsolved murder: How dare somebody kill my brother and nobody get caught? The pain becomes, who would do that to him? That’s when you feel that emptiness, that void, because you don’t have nothing but memories.

From the curator: David I. Walker is a writer and multimedia producer, and founder of the Berks Story Project. We generally don’t work with photographers because of the sad fact that most of the people represented by the portraits are no longer with us. David had the idea of working with a family member. He was able to photograph Sharon and record her story. She speaks with aching passion about her dear brother. Please take the time to listen either using the QR code below or go to http://tinyurl.com/Sharon-Hill-audio Her mentioning that Stephen always took the remote makes me tear up every time I hear it. Also, for some reason we do not have the image of what was displayed in the exhibition. David added written words of Sharon, also, onto the photographs. For the first one she wrote: “This is where a life ends and the pain begins. . . .” For the second she wrote: “Stephen J. Hill “Big Steve” Here lies a Brother, a Son, a Father, an Uncle, a Nephew, a Cousin, a Lover, a Fiance, a Grandson, a Brother-in-law, a Grandfather, and a lot of pain!!”

Stephen’s End, 51st and Haverford (top) Stephen’s Grave, Landsdowne Portraits of Sharon Hill  by David I. Walker Photographs, 14” x 11”, and audio 2017