Photo Diary: Willie Stewart

Photographed by Willie Stewart

I grew up in Gallatin, Tennessee. My family were members of an outlaw motorcycle club. I was raised by my great-grandmother Doris, a seamstress, and was homeschooled by my grandmother Susan, a truck-stop waitress. On weekdays, I went to work with my grandmother, where I played Dungeons and Dragons with the children of other waitresses. On weekends, when my mother, Heidi, had free time, she took me to concerts. Together we saw the Melvins and Kiss at The Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee. In my teenage years, the subculture music and films of the 80s and 90s inspired me. After high school, I took an academic break, during which time I studied analog electronics with Bob Burriss, played guitar professionally with Yoko Ono, and spent four years as a commercial display artist, before returning to the Cooper Union to complete my Bachelor's of Fine Art degree, and a residency at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. I am now a Master's of Fine Art candidate at Yale University, where these Polaroids were taken.