Illustration by Melanie Snead
Heidi Abbott knew no one in Richmond when she moved here from upstate New York in 1984 for a teaching job. She now knows, in her words, “quite a few” people in various walks of life through her law practice at Hunton Andrews Kurth, through volunteering at George Wythe High School in the Violence Free Zone initiative and with a bus ministry at the Creighton Court public housing community — usually with her camera in hand — and serving on boards including the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority. In May, the Richmond NAACP branch recognized her with one of its annual humanitarian awards. “She’s done outstanding work in the community,” says NAACP branch president James “JJ” Minor.
My favorite thing about Richmond: I think it’s the people. I think we have a great community of caring, invested people.
What frustrates me about Richmond is the way the city is structured, we are two Richmonds in some ways. Bryan Stevenson, who wrote “Just Mercy,” said, “You can’t understand most of the important things from a distance. You have to get close.”
Something people would be surprised to know: I think I let the cat out of the bag on social media, but I started painting four years ago.
I see my photography as a communication tool. When I went to Creighton, when I went to the Violence Free Zone, I took the camera, and the kids were like, “Who is that lady?” and then I printed the pictures out and brought them back, and they just started clamoring. I took prom pictures, graduation pictures. I’ve tried to use the camera to communicate what I’ve been fortunate to experience with a larger audience.
When somebody visits me from out of town, I put them in the car and I take them to all the beautiful places. We go to Maymont. I drive down Monument, I take them to Creighton, I go to the river. I give them the whole snapshot. Then we go to one of a zillion great restaurants.
A book that’s been influential for me is “Evicted,” by Matthew Desmond. I thought he just captured the complexities of this housing crisis that we’re in.
One word my friends would use to describe me: passionate.
My pet peeve is intolerance.
If I could go back in time, I’d like to meet Martin Luther King Jr. and ask the best way I could be quietly effective in this [era of] civil rights 2.0. I think that many things we’re seeing happen right now are the exact same things that happened 50 years ago.
"Many things we’re seeing happen right now are the exact same things that happened 50 years ago.”
The bravest thing I’ve ever done: It’s coming up. I’m going on a trip to Thailand and Bhutan with my brother, and we have to hike 15 miles in one day at 13,000 feet of elevation in the high Himalayas.
In challenging times, I turn to my husband, Billy Abbott. He’s the rock and the core of everything.
