By Natalie Taylor
On February 17, a packed audience at Teatro Santa Ana, listened to Janet Sterburg present a talk titled “Falling up the Stairs.” The term, as defined by the urban dictionary, means failure, hurt, and humiliation. But through Janet’s eye, it takes on an unlikely meaning. She sees it as a hiccup on a journey, a jolt that takes you in a different direction, a gift that causes you to reevaluate what you have been doing, and perhaps start something new. Janet speaks of this with conviction because she herself “fell up the stairs” and, late in life, followed a distinctly new road.
It happened in 1999, right here, in San Miguel de Allende. At that time, Janet Sternburg was already an established essayist, poet, and memoir writer, with several books published. On that particular day, randomly weaving through Centro, she saw a reflection in a store window, and felt compelled to capture the image. She bought a single-use camera and took a photo. When the pure, unedited photo was developed, Janet found a new calling—photography. From that initial image sprang a successful new career. Janet has had exhibits in many parts of the world, including an amazing solo-photography show in Soul, Korea in 2008. Her photos can be found at the Fisher Museum at USC in California.
Starting with that first photo, Janet has continued using a single-use camera, taking advantage of its limitations. It is precisely the limitations that intrigue and challenge her, it makes her keenly aware of the power of the moment, in capturing an image, and the connection to life itself. Her photos brought out her own questions about reality, gave her a new way to look at the universe. “Imagining a porous world,” she speaks of embracing imperfection, accepting blurring, and out-of-focus photos because she says—“do we really see the world in focus?” Janet says her photos are “conglomerates of reality” and show a layered universe where everything can appear in one image.
During the Covid lockdown in 2020, Janet wandered the deserted streets of Los Angeles, moved by the emptiness, and the traces of hopes dashed by the pandemic. Taking photos of the desolate city, she documented people’s fears and uncertainty. Those photographs became part of her latest book, “I’ve Been Walking.”
Janet Sternburg says that we can all embrace the change that happens when we trip going up the stairs. She quotes poet Antonio Machado: “Wanderer, your footsteps are the road…the road is made by walking.” Embrace the stumble, the momentary switch that takes you in another direction, it may be an opportunity to start something new in life. We are all on the stairs at different levels; a stumble along that upward journey creates a pause, it could make us reevaluate where we are, and lead to a new path. Even if it’s late in life.
Janet’s books are available online and will soon be at Tesoros Book Store.
