Articles

Armed with camera: An associate professor Takes photos of women and their firearms

By Drew Jubera
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
April 11, 2008

Q&A with Nancy Floyd, photographer:

Nancy Floyd grew up in gun country —- small-town south Texas —- but didn't buy a gun until 1991, with the onset of the Gulf War. She wanted to connect with her brother Jimmy, a gun lover who died in Vietnam when she was 12.

"I remember telling my husband I want to buy a gun to know what it was like for my brother to have a gun," says Floyd, 51, an associate professor of photography at Georgia State University.

"And that's how it started."

The result: A yearslong project photographing women —- preteens, grandmothers, cops, Olympic hopefuls —- with guns. The series of color portraits, "She's Got a Gun," is on display through May 3 at the Solomon Projects gallery in Midtown. Floyd's book by the same name, which explores the history and images of women with guns, has also been published by Temple University Press. An artist's talk and book signing will be held at the gallery April 23 at 6:30 p.m.

We met with Floyd to talk about her project and her love of guns.

Q: You packin'?

A: I'm not packing. Promise.

Q: Do you carry?

A: I do not carry. Early on when I got a gun, I did carry it sometimes. I felt like, "Now that I got a gun, I should be able to carry it when I want to." [But] one of my dear friends said it: "I don't want to feel like I need to have something to use to make myself safe." I feel that way. Everybody has their own reasons.

Q: Is a gun ever just a gun?

A: No. It's used to kill; that's its main function. It's used to kill to defend something; it's also used to murder, maim, break up families and lives. It's used for pleasure. It's used to lobby the government. It's used to intimidate and scare people. There is the West and the manifest destiny of white people going across the West and conquering the land, and defending themselves against the British. Today, there are over 30,000 deaths a year by firearms.

It's never just a gun.

Q: What did getting a gun help you discover about your brother?

A: I discovered his personality and mine were very similar. I remember him sitting at his desk and the smell of gun oil and not connecting his behavior with his desire all his young life to be a gunsmith. He did what he loved. Now, I see myself at a desk writing my book, or in the darkroom printing pictures, and you can't distract me when I'm focused.

I was terrified at first about my gun. But once I learned the pleasure of shooting, I understood the allure of it for him.

Q: What's the allure?

A: The ability to control it and shoot it accurately. When I'm shooting at a range and have ear muffs on, I feel like I'm in this tunnel all by myself, even though there might be other people around. You have to grip it in such a way . . . that when you squeeze the trigger it doesn't wiggle anywhere. That body posture is the sweet spot.

Q: You don't ever just go to a dump and shoot rats?

A: No. I have to know where the bullet's going. I wouldn't shoot an animal, either, so there's that.

Q: Is the decision to own a gun more complicated for women than for men?

A: Depends on the woman. For some women, it's very complex. For others, it's a no-brainer: my life's in danger; life is scary. I think there is some ambivalence there.

Q: Why are guns so politicized?

A: There's such fear. We're afraid of each other, either because we have guns or we don't have guns. We're afraid of people so we get guns. We're afraid other people might have guns. There's the individualist fear of the government taking guns away. There's the individualist fear that we have choices and we've made the wrong choices and need to remove guns from the hands of even law-abiding people.

I can get really agitated by pro-gun or anti-gun sides. I do have contradictions.

Q: C'mon, grow up, choose a side.

A: I have chosen a side. I have guns. I could hurt someone; I could kill someone; someone could get my gun and hurt someone else. So, yeah, I absolutely have chosen a side.

Q: You belong to the NRA?

A: No. I don't believe in a lot of what they stand for.

Q: But you do believe in a lot of what they stand for.

A: I do. To be taught to shoot by an NRA instructor is a great person to be taught by. The youth things they do to teach gun safety to children, even teaching them how to shoot, is great.

Q: So where do you disagree?

A: I believe in gun control.

Q: Why are liberals so scared of guns?

A: Not all liberals are. A lot of liberals won't admit they have guns. A lot of conservatives are scared of guns.

Q: Why are gun owners so scary?

A: Because they're so self-confident they wouldn't hurt anyone and that they're safe and so guns are safe.

Q: What reaction do you get from the liberal academics you work with?

A: They're curious. They're willing to talk about things, but they're just as likely to say, "I understand what you're saying, but it really bothers me. I wish you didn't have a gun."

Q: Has having so many women in the military during the Iraq war changed the way people look at women with guns?

A: It is our 21st century change: women warriors. It's something that has crossed the line where you didn't quite go before.

Q: Have our pop culture images of women with guns changed?

A: I credit blaxploitation films [in the 1970s] as the point at which everything had been done. In blaxploitation films, women sought revenge and didn't apologize for it. Through most of the history of film, women would pick up a gun when things got bad, then they'd drop it after it's over. Or they'd hold the man at bay until their boyfriend or somebody comes and takes the bad guy away. But Pam Grier and those women, they become gun women, and they seek revenge.

Q: What was common to the women with guns you photographed?

A: One thing I learned doing all this is that, in many cases, the only thing women with guns have in common is their guns.

Q: You a good shot?

A: I can shoot really well slow. I'm very patient. About five years ago I injured my shoulders. But I'm ready to go back and shoot as best I can.

Q: You miss it?

A: I absolutely miss it. Get me on a gun range talking to somebody about guns, I can stay for hours. I love conversations about the mechanics of guns like I like conversations about the mechanics of cameras.

I'm a gun nut.

Q: Is happiness a warm gun?

A: Yes. Happiness can be a warm gun.A: I absolutely miss it. Get me on a gun range talking to somebody about guns, I can stay for hours. I love conversations about the mechanics of guns like I like conversations about the mechanics of cameras.

I'm a gun nut.

Q: Is happiness a warm gun?

A: Yes. Happiness can be a warm gun.

Copyright 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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