Right from our first contact, even before he showed up on my door step, it was clear that Mello has clear ideas about our session, just as much as I do. So when we sat down to chat at the kitchen counter, as I do with every portrait subject before a session, he laid out his proposed approach, not so much as my subject for the series on African Canadians in the arts, but as someone with a mission and purpose. This session has to fit with his own agenda, not just mine. So it became a true collaboration. Mello was well prepared with ideas, allowing me to riff along. Showing off Mello's (Yoga tuned) physique? Check. Wearing formal attire? Check. The latter contrasted with an african mask? Check!
But the conversation, oh the conversation. We covered so much ground in our first hour. We talked about the symbolic impact of his last name (White), his "day job" of helping spread the principles of diversity across Ontario's government bureaucracy, his love for poetry and spoken word performance and social activism. We even touched on my other favourite topic: cooking - and our very different approach to it. His a creative free form experimentation, and mine, following recipes, almost to a T. But somehow, it all balanced out. A good session indeed.