A Long Arc - Photography and the American South

May 26, 2024

When I was studying photography at Arizona State, I became aware of the FSA photographers, the photographers who documented the Civil Rights Movement, Matthew Brady, and William Christenberry. The images these photographers captured impacted how I see today. I remember installing Christenberry’s photographs for an exhibition at the Northlight Gallery in Matthews Hall on campus, and being in awe of how beautiful the prints were. Christenberry’s work probably was the most obvious in documenting the American South, he captured scenes that only exist there. At that time in my life when I was looking at the work of other photographers working in the South I was focused more on the specific subject matter and the craftsmanship of the images. Over time, from revisiting my own images, I have gained a better understanding of how many layers of meaning an image can actually have. Some images may have an obvious singular message, but many images have multiple layers of meaning and information once you learn how to look at photographs. I also remember Bill Jay stressing to us in class that every viewer brings their own experiences to each image and what is important to one viewer may not be important to another.

One of the people I follow on social media is Gregory Harris who is the is the High Museum of Art’s Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of Photography. I have had the opportunity to meet Greg and I greatly respect his knowledge of Contemporary and Documentary Photography. At the end of last year, I saw him announce the release of the catalogue / book titled A long Arc Southern Photography which accompanied the exhibition at the High Museum. I was immediately interested in the book, so I contacted the High Museum gift shop to arrange a purchase. The book is the subject of this blog post, a post that is woefully overdue.

Weighing in at over 4 lbs. this 304 page Aperture book with over 275 photographs was published last November to accompany the exhibition which opened at the High Museum and is now currently on display at The Addison Gallery of Art at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts until July 31st. From there it moves to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for an exhibition opening October 5th, 2024. The book is a beast, but it must be to properly cover the subject matter otherwise they would have omitted important photographers. I love the layout of the book and the content; it is an amazing documentation of the history of photography in the American South. The printing is good, and I like the fact the image descriptions and titles accompany the images. The dimensions of the book are unique, but it works well, allowing creativity with the image placement on the pages. The amount of information in this book, written and actual images, is incredible. The only complaint I have about the book is the font size and text padding are smaller than I prefer, it isn’t an easy read, but I understand why that is because it would probably add another twenty-five plus pages to an already big book.

This book really brought in to focus how important the American South has been to the history of photography. As I stated above, early on in my career I was aware of many of the notable photographers who had photographed in the South, but I hadn’t given any thought to how much the region was actually documented. When I started going through this book I was immediately impressed by how many great photographers had photographed in the South. I also was surprised to learn that some images I knew well, but had not considered the location, had actually been photographed in the South; the cover image of Robert Frank’s The Americans book is an example of one of those images.

A Long Arc - Photography and the American South - Page Examples:

Much of America is changing today because of ideological influences, migration, and a host of other factors that are too complex to get in to here. Many of our major cities have quality of life issues with things like the high cost of living, overcrowding, and criminal justice failures. Having visited Atlanta a couple years ago I felt the region seemed less affected by the problems in other parts of the country. I am not naïve to problems of the South’s past, but I didn’t feel the same racial tension in Atlanta that I have felt recently in Los Angeles (which has increased dramatically from when I was younger). The small portion of the South I have seen seems to be more like the America of the 20th Century than a lot of other parts of the country are today and I appreciate that. It is important to retain our American identity as a society while still appreciating and respecting the diversity within the whole. I think the residents in the South may be doing a better job of this than other regions of our country. So, with all this said, I think this book also has value documenting the community of the South which is separate from the history of photography element of the book. Another thing to appreciate is how many images in the book also document important historic and transformative moments in American history.

I have reviewed several books here on my blog and with each the goal is to give a fair evaluation of the book along with my personal taste opinions. One thing I always try to identify is who the book is best suited for, since photography interests and tastes are so varied and photography books can be expensive. This is one of the few recent books that I believe would be a good addition to anyone’s photography library. This book is as complete a document as you can author for the subject. The reader will definitely learn something new about the medium and probably rediscover some images they had not thought about in a while. The book is well worth the price, Amazon now has it for $47. It is important for photographers to understand the history of the medium to be good at their craft. I know most of us think New York is the center of the photographic universe but the photographs from the American South are some of the most important images ever made.

The book’s official description is as follows:

Collects over 175 years of key moments in the visual history of the Southern United States, with over two hundred and fifty photographs taken from 1845 to present. The South is perhaps the most mythologized region in the United States and also one of the most depicted. Since the dawn of photography in the nineteenth century, photographers have articulated the distinct and evolving character of the South’s people, landscape, and culture and reckoned with its fraught history. Indeed, many of the urgent questions we face today about what defines the American experience—from racism, poverty, and the legacy of slavery to environmental disaster, immigration, and the changes wrought by a modern, global economy—appear as key themes in the photography of the South. The visual history of the South is inextricably intertwined with the history of photography and also the history of America, and is therefore an apt lens through which to examine American identity. A Long Arc: Photography and the American South accompanies a major exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, with more than one hundred photographers represented, including Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Gordon Parks, William Eggleston, Sally Mann, Carrie Mae Weems, Dawoud Bey, Alec Soth, and An-My Lê. Insightful texts by Imani Perry, Sarah Kennel, Makeda Best, and Rahim Fortune, among others, illuminate this broad survey of photographs of the Southern United States as an essential American story. Copublished by Aperture and High Museum of Art, Atlanta

Details

Format: Hardback

Number of pages: 304

Number of images: 275

Publication date: 2023-11-21

Measurements: 8.07 x 11.42 inches

ISBN: 9781597115513

Contributors

Imani Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and a faculty associate with the programs in law and public affairs, gender and sexuality studies, and jazz studies.

Sarah Kennel is the Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography and Director of the Raysor Center for Works on Paper at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.

Gregory J. Harris is the Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art.

Makeda Best is the Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography at the Harvard Art Museums.

LeRonn P. Brooks is associate curator for modern and contemporary collections at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.

Rahim Fortune is a photographer living and working between Austin and Brooklyn.

Grace Elizabeth Hale is commonwealth professor of American studies and history at the University of Virginia.

Maria L. Kelly is assistant curator of photography at the High Museum of Art.

Scott L. Matthews is assistant professor of history at Florida State College at Jacksonville.

Brian Piper is Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of Photographs at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Press Quotes:

“The magnificence of a retrospective like this is not just the accounting offered by its historical sweep, but the way it conveys the immense complexity of this region, to inspire a renewed attention to the cruel radiance of what is. Suffering does not always lead to compassion and change, but photographs like these remind us that standing in witness to suffering surely should.”—Margaret Renkl, The New York Times

“…these photographs demonstrate how essential the South has been not only to American history and identity, but to American photography—from Mathew Brady’s battlefield images of the Civil War (1861–65) to the intimate interiors of Carrie Mae Weems.”—Andrew Durbin, Frieze magazine

Additional Information about the Exhibition:

You Tube Video of the Installation at the High Museum (11 mins)

Atlanta Photography Group - Portfolio 2023 Exhibition - Now Open

May 18, 2023

I am proud to announce that six of my photographs have been selected for the Atlanta Photography Group’s “Portfolio 2023” exhibition, which opened Tuesday. I am especially honored that Shana Lopes, who is the Assistant Curator of Photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art was the juror for this exhibition. Only eight photographers were selected, and one of us will have their photographs placed into the permanent collection of the prestigious High Museum in Atlanta from the purchase award associated with the exhibition.

This is my sixth Atlanta Photography Group exhibition, and this is the first time I have had my work selected for their portfolio exhibition. This is a significant career moment for me because the APG Portfolio exhibition is so competitive and always judged by a renowned curator. I am once again thankful for Donna Garcia and the staff at APG for all their work organizing this exhibition and securing Shana to make the selections. I am also thankful for the APG board, staff (Nicole LeCorgne), and community for building the best photography organization of this kind in the country. I am also excited about APG’s future with the addition of David Clifton-Strawn as APG’s new Executive Director.

Photographs in the exhibition

"Welcome to Hell" Officer Bill Walton (PPD - 026 #17 6/27/85)

Bus ride to the Rose Parade briefing (PPD-146 #23 12/31/86)

Officers Gales and Rangel in the report writing room. (PPD-053 #19A 10/4/85)

Agent Pratt dusting a recovered stolen vehicle (PPD-128 #18A 7/9/86)

Officer Aguilar filling out gang card - Chino PD (PD-048 #20 March 1995)

Domestic Violence suspect - Chino (CPD DSC_1618_ 11/17/22)

Background Information about the images in the exhibition:

“Welcome to Hell” (1985) – Bill Walton was an outstanding street cop. Where all the young officers wanted to work in the action-packed area with the gangsters and rock cocaine sales, Walton was happy working in the slower East side of the Pasadena. He wasn’t lazy in fact he had to work harder to get his arrests than officers in the busy areas. I remember how Walton would hunt vehicle burglars hitting the cars in the restaurant and theatre parking lots of his area. He had a number of hidden lookout spots where he could sit with his binoculars scanning the lots for thieves. He made lots of self-initiated arrests because he cared about protecting his beat. His clipboard has his unit call sign (“3L41” - signifying Swing shift, solo officer car, Beat 4, and the first unit in that beat, usually he was the only officer on that end of the city) and “E.S.P.” (Copying the East Side Pasadena gang graffiti), as well as the bumper sticker.

“Bus Ride” (1986) - Every New Years Eve, officers would get dressed at the old police station then get bused the half mile over to the convention center for the large briefing of all personnel working security along the route of The Rose Parade. Over a million people come to watch the parade each year, many of which camp out overnight and like to celebrate New Years Eve. Some areas of the route are calm and other areas were known to be rowdy every year. The buses used for these trips were Los Angeles County Sheriff inmate transportation buses. I always thought the contrast between the gang graffiti etched on the roof of the bus and the police officers added a lot to this image. I also love how this image captured the comradery of the officers and diversity.

“Report Writing” (1985) - Documents the unglamourous part of law enforcement you never see in the movies or TV shows, having to write reports. Back then everything was handwritten or typed by the officers. Lots of white out and erasers. I chose a different angle to showcase how much paperwork actually have to deal with. The images also lets the viewer see how unglamourous the report writing area was.

“Dusting for prints” (1986) – I learned so much about the profession while photographing at Pasadena PD that I would later use in my own career as a Police Officer and Detective at Chino PD. As I was photographing Calvin Pratt, he taught me to always dust the center review mirror on recovered stolen vehicles because everyone always adjusts the mirrors the first time. He said most car thieves would wipe down the stolen cars when abandoning them but often would forget to wipe down the center mirror. Auto theft investigation would later become one of my areas of expertise’s at Chino PD.

“Gang Card” (1995) – Foremost this image documents the era when law enforcement was encouraged to do more gang enforcement to combat rising crime in Southern California. There are a few layers in this image, the gang tattoo, which was hidden at first, the subject looking away avoiding eye contact and the posture between the officer and the subject.

“Domestic Violence Suspect” – (2022) Last year the Chief of Police at Chino PD asked me if I would be willing to come back and photograph officers out on patrol again and I immediately told him I would. A couple years ago I had decided it would be good to photograph this current era of Law Enforcement so I could document the changes within the profession in my time. With the pandemic I had not found the right opportunity yet. This image documents something that unfortunately never seems to change, domestic violence. The man in the back seat of the unit is a domestic violence suspect who allegedly got drunk and slugged his wife in the face during an argument. When the first officers arrived, he resisted arrest and a crowd formed in the apartment complex prompting officers to have to call for a “code three back” for more assistance. After being handcuffed the man refused to walk to the police car and had to be carried to it by officers. The man’s brother, whom he had been drinking with, said the man resisted arrest because was afraid the arrest would hurt his ability to lawfully immigrate to this country. If I correctly remember the man and his family came to the United States from Nicaragua, crossed the border illegally, and were placed in this apartment complex while waiting for their immigration hearing about their asylum request.

Information about images in Previous APG Exhibitions (see below):

“Kevin Hall at the Do Dah Parade” (1985) – The Do Dah Parade is an annual event where people hold a spoof parade making fun of the Rose Parade. I think it still exists, but its popularity has waned, it was at its peak in the 80’s and 90’s. This image is a great document of the parade, but I also love the symbolism in it. Kevin was a big good-looking cop, who wore the uniform well. Here he is looking cool, calm, and collected in amongst a world of pandemonium. The image symbolizes what society expects from all officers but has little concept of how hard that is to achieve, especially in today’s world.

“Young Guns” (1986) – Pasadena PD Officers Hal Edwards, Matt Harrell, Mark Rangel, and Don Osterholt. These are Graveyard shift officers lined up in the hallway at the station waiting to check out their unit keys, shotguns, and portable radios. Law Enforcement Graveyard shifts inherently have many young officers because they have the least amount of seniority and can’t get a better shift yet. Younger officers often bring more energy, make more mistakes, and have lots of bravado. When I made the exposure I felt the image captured the invincible, fraternal, mindset many young Graveyard officers have. I also liked the fact this image documented the diversity which Pasadena PD had in the 1980’s. I gave this image the title “Young Guns” sometime later, with the inspiration being the 1988 Western movie with that title.

Related photographs which have recently shown at APG but are not in this current exhibition.

Officer Kevin Hall - The Do Dah Parade (PPD-057#14 - 12/1/85)

"Young Guns" (PPD-071 #01A - 1/03/86)

Artist Statement for this submission:

My father was a Reserve Police Officer with the Pasadena Police Department for over 30 years. I would go with him when he went to the station to drop off paperwork and he often stopped by our house nights he was on patrol. Because of this I saw my first dead body when I was about six years old, 1969. A hippie had overdosed, and his friends brought him to the emergency clinic next to the station, but he was already dead. MY dad took me over to his body in the VW bus and told me my first lesson about drug use. I remember the scene vividly to this day.

I started attending Arizona State University in the fall of 1984 as a Photography major. For a class assignment, I needed a documentary project to photograph during spring break. I came up with the idea of photographing the Pasadena Police Department and my dad made the arrangements so I could go on a series of ride-alongs to photograph. The first night I rode with a Sergeant who was a good family friend. He took me all over, introduced me to the younger officers, and he got me on scene of a suicide, a woman named Tina Hart who shot herself in the middle of the street. I immediately liked being in a police car and knew the access I had could lead to a powerful body of work. Northwest Pasadena in the mid 1980’s was crazy, lots of rock cocaine and gangs; the Bloods and Crips in Southern California were very active. When I got back to school the work was well received.

I continued the Pasadena PD series during the following summer. I quickly earned the trust of more officers and ended up becoming a technical reserve working in the photo lab during the day while still photographing on the street at night. Between 1985 and 1987 I spent over 1,000 hours on the street photographing officers with unlimited access.

When I graduated I did not want to become a press photographer, so I decided to become a police officer. I attended the Rio Hondo Police Academy and then became our class photographer which gave me more unique access. I was then hired by the Chino Police Department in 1987. I spent most of my career working Patrol with years in the Detective Bureau. I was medically retired in 2008 because of injuries. Working patrol photographed when I could but I obviously had to perform my duties first. Last year the Chief at Chino PD asked me to return and start photographing the department again.

This portfolio documents law enforcement during a period which is now being scrutinized by people examining ways to bring about change to our criminal justice system. I don’t know of any other photographer who had the access and vantage point that I did during this era.

Other Artists in the Exhibition

I am pleased that my work is being exhibited with the other photographers and lens-based artists listed below. Collectively their accomplishments include a Pulitzer Prize, multiple Photo Lucida Critical Mass Finalists, and photographs in many prestigious permanent collections. Four of us live in Los Angeles, two in New York City, and the rest live in the following: San Francisco, Indiana, Mississippi, and Jason is in the Midwest. Hopefully you will take a moment to follow these links and learn more about their work:

Aline Smithson Instagram Web Site Linktree

I first met Aline ten years ago at the Medium Festival in San Diego and she interviewed me for Lenscratch about my Santa Anita portfolio and book. Aline has also featured Justin Carney’s work twice in Lenscrach as an emerging artist.

Ashleigh Coleman Instagram Web Site

Denise Laurinaitis Instagram Web Site

Justin Carney Instagram Web Site Linktree

Preston Gannaway Instagram Web Site Linktree

Michael Young Instagram Web Site Linktree

Simone Lueck Instagram Web Site

& Alternate Artists: Diane Meyer and Jason Lindsey

At the APG 2022 Selects opening with High Museum Curator Gregory Harris who curated the Selects exhibition. 10-20-22

Atlanta Photography Group - 2022 Selects - Gregory Harris, Curator

December 9, 2022

In October I flew to Atlanta for the opening of the Atlanta Photography Group’s Gregory Harris Selects 2022 exhibition.

This exhibition was APG’s feature exhibition for Atlanta Celebrates Photography (ACP) 2022, the month-long, citywide photography festival. The Exhibition was open themed and juried by Gregory Harris, the Keough Family Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

APG’s Program Director Nicole LeCorgne introduces Gregory Harris at the opening on October 20th.

I have been a member of APG for several years and this was the fourth APG exhibition I have had work featured in. Concurrent to this exhibition I also had two photographs up at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in APG’s annual airport show, which was juried by Lisa Volpe the Associate Curator of Photography at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. I also had a photograph in the APG’s 2022 Street Photography exhibition, curated by Henry Horenstein, which proceeded this exhibition. I have been so impressed with how professional everyone at APG is and the list of guest jurors they have brought in the last few years is amazing. So having the opportunity to see my photographs up in two separate exhibitions, and to also meet a curator like Gregory Harris, I jumped on a flight and headed to Atlanta. This was also an opportunity for me to visit Atlanta for the first time and explore a region of our country I need to get to know better.

I was honored as soon as I found out Gregory selected my photographs for the exhibition. I knew Gregory has an impressive curatorial resume and focuses on documentary photography when I submitted work for consideration. I also knew the High Museum has a prominent photography collection. Below his is statement about the exhibition:

The photographs gathered here are all straightforward pictures that respond to the wonders of quotidian human experience —the abiding pleasures of family and friends, the unexpected beauty of our built environment, the sheer marvel of the natural world—yet plumbing the depths of ordinary life offers boundless possibility for revelation. What links these seemingly disparate images is that their makers felt very little need to overly orchestrate them, and each was masterful at turning the most mundane situations into discretely poetic records of simply what was there before their cameras. – Gregory Harris

When I landed in Atlanta the day before the opening and immediately went to see the airport exhibition after getting my luggage, it was nice to finally see the space since I have had photographs in the airport exhibition twice now. The next day I went to the Atlanta Photography Group in the morning to see the exhibition before the opening. The APG space is outstanding, it has great linear wall space with a high ceiling and is laid out perfectly for a gallery. I was also happy to see that both of my photographs had prominent positioning in the center of the primary wall. I knew then I had made the right decision to fly back for the opening.

Going to see the exhibition early also gave me the opportunity to really get to know Nicole LeCorgne who is APG’s Program Director and a Curator. It was fantastic having so much time to learn about APG, the Atlanta photography community, and Nicole’s photography background.

Nicole LeCorgne, Caroline Hollingsworth, Beth Lilly, and William Karl Valentine

At the opening I was able to meet several APG’s board members and other long-time members who helped lay the foundation for this outstanding group. This gave me the chance to go to dinner with Benjamin Dimmitt, Mark Caceres, Peter Essick, Chip Standifer, and Beth Lilly after the opening. It was exciting to learn more about how vibrant the Atlanta photography community is and to just spend the time talking about the medium. The APG membership has a strong core of established photographers as well as many young emerging photographers, it is a nice mix. For example, I heard 22-year-old Joshua Walls tell us this was his first prominent exhibition when he spoke during the opening. For me, this was my 50th exhibition. The only thing I missed out on this trip was being able to meet APG Executive Director and Curator Donna Garcia in person because she had to be out of town that week. I have corresponded with Donna numerous times coordinating submissions and she has always been so helpful and professional. Donna is obviously taking APG to the next level.

Holding my photograph from the Street Photography exhibition which preceded the 2022 Selects exhibition. All three photographs were printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag ULTRASMOOTH Fine Art Paper and framed by Digital Arts Studio.

I also need to mention Digital Arts Studio in Atlanta and owner Barry Glustoff. I have used DAS to print and frame the photographs for both of my APG exhibitions this year. Their product is outstanding, they made the deadlines, and their fees were very appropriate. I am thankful for their work in really helping my images stand out. Digital Arts Studio is a qualified Hahnemuhle FineArt Certified Studio, one of fewer than two dozen in the United States as well as an accredited Canson Certified Lab and it shows in their product.

The Exhibition ran from October 17th to November 17th, 2022, and included the following participating artists:

Allison Plass
Beate Sass
Benjamin Dimmitt
Dana Weiss
Daniel Raniner
Ellen Mertins
Gwen Julia
Jo Ann Chaus
John Prince
Joshua Walls
Louis Leon

Mark Caceres
Nancy Marshall
Nate Mathews
Peter Essick
Reid Childers
Ross Landenberger
Seth Cook
Stephanie Hanlon
Willard Pate
William Karl Valentine
Zak Henderson

The High Museum of Art - Atlanta

November 28, 2022

I knew the High Museum had a respected photography collection, but I didn’t know much more about the Institution until I visited Atlanta last month.

The exhibition space is outstanding, much larger than I expected. I also like the flow and layout of the museum. The High also has a youth interactive room that looked amazing. One thing that really stood out was how everyone associated with the museum I met was nice and seemed to really enjoy being at work; they seem to have a good culture there.

I liked most of the work in the exhibitions, most of which I wasn’t familiar with. Deana Lawson’s photographs were in the photography gallery downstairs, I am reviewing her work in a separate blog post.

In preparing this post I researched more information about the High. I learned the formation of the museum began in 1905 with the formation of the Atlanta Art Association. In 1926 Mrs. Joseph M. High donated her family home to be their first permanent space. In 1962 a plane crash in Paris took the lives of 122 Art Association members who had travelled to Francer to tour galleries and museums. Incredibly in 1968 the Atlanta Memorial Arts Center, which includes the High Museum, opened. I think this is an incredible accomplishment after losing so many area supporters just six years earlier. In 1979 Coca Cola seeded money to expand the High Museum to 135,000 and that project was completed in 1983. In 2005 another expansion was completed adding three new buildings and bringing the High to 312,000 Square feet.

Atlanta based collector and photographer Lucinda Weil Bunnen donated the core of the High photography collection which now has over 600 objects. In the 2000’s the High began to focus on collecting civil rights era photography and has and collection of photographs by an impressive roster of photographers including the following greats: Gordon Parks, Leonard Freed, Danny Lyon, Bruce Davidson, Charlie Moore, Bob Adelman, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lary Fink, James “Spider” Martin, James E. Hinton, Steve Shapiro, Burk Uzzle, Daoud Bey, and William Christenberry.

On the High’s web page, I found what I believe may be their mission statement:

“The High is dedicated to reflecting the diversity of its communities and offering a variety of exhibitions and educational programs that engage visitors with the world of art, the lives of artists and the creative process.”

From what I saw the High is accomplishing the goal of the mission statement. I saw a diverse population of visitors walking through the galleries and it looked like most everyone was finding different works of art to connect with. This was especially true in the Deana Lawson photography exhibit.

web ATL DSC 0520_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 0523_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 0525_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 09111_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 0528_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 0527_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 0534_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 0526_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 09085_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 09086_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 09131_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 09093_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 09106_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 09132_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 09133_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 0524_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 0522_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 09173_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

web ATL DSC 09162_ 10-20-2022 High Museum.jpg

I particularly enjoyed some of the reflective pieces in the upstairs gallery, including Anish Kapoor’s “Untitled” (2010) which was constructed with mirror fragments on a concave steel dish. I always enjoy interactive works like this where my positioning changes the experience with the work.

I was impressed with the High Museum and I definitely want to get back there again soon. If you live in the region or if you will be visiting Atlanta the High should be on your list of places to visit.

Deana Lawson at the High Museum - On view through February 19, 2023

November 28, 2022

Deana Lawson’s photographs were in the Lower-Level Gallery at the High when I visited. This exhibition originated at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) and was curated by ICA’s Chief Curator Eva Respini along with former MoMA PS1 Chief Curator Peter Eleey. Lawson is a professor at Princeton, and this is the first museum survey dedicated to her work. I was not familiar with Lawson’s work before seeing this exhibition.

I have mixed feelings about this exhibition but taking everything into consideration I did like it, and I think it has value.

The exhibition is staged very well. The space is amazing, the prints are good, and the work placement is solid. I also think the timing for showing Lawson’s work was perfect and it seemed to be very well received. I was in the gallery, in the last hour before closing, and I probably saw a couple dozen patrons. About two thirds of those people were African American, and their engagement with her work was incredible. Most were in groups of four or people and many appeared to be in their mid-20’s. People in each group were talking with one another about individual photographs and talking about their response to the work. They weren’t afraid to get up close and look at details in a photograph, take a cellphone photo of it, step back look over the whole photograph again and then take another close look at it. It was some of the most interaction with work in a museum I have seen, and everyone seemed excited about the work, as if they were connecting with it personally. It was a unique energy, and I sensed a lot of people felt this exhibition was specifically for them. I eventually introduced myself to one of the groups as a visitor from California, mentioned how they looked engaged with the work, asked them what they liked about the exhibition and if there were any photographs that stood out to them. I may have caught them off guard approaching them in that setting but they were very nice and took a moment to talk with me. They all thought the prints were beautiful and powerful; I agree with them, the scale of the work is perfect and printing quality very good. The consensus was they thought the work showed the people featured in a positive light and highlighted their strengths. Both the men and the women in the group seemed to be drawn more to prints with female nudes. I saw every group stop and spend time to examine the montage of photographs pinned to the wall, that piece (feature above) definitely got everyone’s attention. This exhibition does an outstanding job of fulfilling the High’s mission goals. I suspect the Lawson exhibition is bringing in new patrons who may not have considered the High as being a place for them before this exhibition went up. It is also nice to see the work of a photographer under 50 get an exhibition of this caliber.

One of the people I spoke with showing me which Lawson photograph he liked best on cellphone

Okay so now I need to address why I have mixed feelings about this exhibition. I think it is best to start with Lawson’s exhibition statement about the work to get a better understanding of it:

“Featuring work made over the past two decades, this exhibition is the first museum survey dedicated to Deana Lawson. Working primarily in photography, Lawson investigates and challenges conventional representations of Black identities and bodies. Her work evokes a range of photographic histories and styles, including family albums, studio portraiture, and staged tableaux; she also employs documentary pictures and appropriated images.

In Lawson’s highly staged scenes, individuals, couples, and families are pictured in intimate domestic spaces and public settings, interacting with one another. The artist describes her work as “a mirror of everyday life, but also a projection of what I want to happen. It’s about setting a different standard of values and saying that everyday Black lives, everyday experiences, are beautiful, and powerful, and intelligent.” Lawson’s practice is global in scope, as she creates her images throughout the African diaspora in locations as varied as Brooklyn, Haiti, Jamaica, Ethiopia, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Southern United States. This broad geographical range points to a collective memory of shared experiences and various cultural histories of the past.”

What I am struggling with is that so many of these images look to be documentary photographs, but they are actually carefully staged, and the environment altered. If they were straight documentary images, they would be powerful, they would be capturing life within a segment of our population and thus allowing us to explore and appreciate it. But when Laswon alters them, she alters their factual value. I love Julie Blackmon’s work, it is amazing. With Blackmon’s work it is obviously staged and orchestrated. As a viewer knowing this, when I see her photographs, I know I need to look for her message in her image. Blackmon usually has an obvious message with subtle layers of messages. Taking Deana Lawsons’ statement and applying it to her images I can’t always see the connection.

Here are some examples:

So, Lawson said this about her work: “it is a mirror of everyday life, but also a projection of what I want to happen. It’s about setting a different standard of values and saying that everyday Black lives, everyday experiences, are beautiful, and powerful, and intelligent.” When I view this image, I see examples of everyday life, but I am confused what the different standards and values she is championing here because there is so much going on. Obviously, there is the suggestion of the proud father caring for his son which stands out. But then when I consider the title is “Sons of Cush” (“Cush” is slang for a powerful type of marijuana with a high that lasts a long time), the tattoos, gold chains, and cash on the person to the left, the aluminum foil preventing people from looking inside apartment, with my background in law enforcement I start to connect this image with drugs dealers. I have no idea where the white board is taking us, references to colonization in Africa along with scripture verse, it is all over the place. Then there is the apparent photo of an older black woman who had been a nanny to a white girl and an empty Chips Ahoy cup on the side table and so many other elements added to the photograph. Plus, the fact that the photograph is staged with all this furniture next to the front door (I can see the dead bolt lock) in an awkward unnatural manner is something I don’t understand. In reading Patricia Davis’s comments about the photograph on the accompanying title card (a photo of this is above) I see this photograph is about the strong father figure and the rejection of the stereotype that some African American men are poor fathers and that the “Sons of Cush” title relates back to the Kingdom of Kush in Africa. Okay I can see the father element in the photograph but what about all these unique components in the image frame? Is there is a reason for them? and if my interpretation is correct about the house then as a good father why is he still in there with the child? If the message is only about the man being a good father to his son, rejecting stereotypes, I think the image could have been created where that statement is clearer. If there are multiple layers of meaning to this image, then I wish Davis would have identified them. I also don’t see how the image “Cleverly prompts the viewer to make the connection” that this is a strong father figure as Davis claims. If the meaning of this image was so obvious, then Davis’s statement would not need to accompany the work.

Knowing that “Uncle Mack” was a posed photograph I want to know why it was framed like a Polaroid snapshot with those elements in the frame. He is holding a shotgun, but it is a hunting style gun with a long barrel. Mack is shirtless, he is wearing a cross necklace, has no tattoos, and the house décor is generic. He is standing in the corner by a window. I have absolutely no idea where Lawson is taking us with this image. In today’s world guns always bring out negative connotations or suggest the presence of a threat, but Uncle Mack looks like an average guy in an average house. The exhibition plate just had the title nothing more.

I think this is powerful portrait, I see strength and some simultaneous vulnerability. I think the interior is an important part of the documentation too, but I am not following the unicorn toy and the TV remote placement. Is it a suggestion she is a parent while still being a woman? As soon as I knew that Lawson carefully constructed her images, I paid attention to every detail assuming each was another key to the meaning of the image. If the items are not important elements that is okay but then they become distractions if they appear to be out of place.

Mohawk Correctional Facility installation:

The Mohawk Correctional Facility family portrait installation is outstanding. I know Lawson rephotographed her cousin Jazmin’s snapshots from visiting her partner Erik in prison, but I am fine with that because she curated the photographs into a timeline and this installation in the High is perfect. The timeline positioning is very powerful. With my law enforcement background, I have seen snapshots like theses lots of times and I understand the dynamics these families go through when a parent is serving a prison sentence.

Conclusion:

As a whole Lawson’s exhibition has value. Some of her portraits are very powerful and hit the mark well. As I detailed above, I find the message in parts of this exhibition difficult to understand and I think there maybe ways that could be corrected, in some cases maybe just with more detailed signage. I was interested in seeing other opinions on this exhibition, but I really wasn’t able to find reviews of this exhibition online. I found a few announcements about it, but they never seemed to go beyond repeating the initial exhibition announcement. I was very pleased to see the amount of community connection to the work and for that fact alone I think this exhibition is a success.

Lensculture Street 2021

September 30, 2021

One of the images I submitted to the 2021 Lensculture Street Photography Awards was recently selected by the editors to be featured in the Street Photography Awards 2021 Competition Gallery. This on-line gallery is visible to everyone who visits the Lensculture’s website. Lensculture describes their Competition Gallery as a highly curated group of images selected by their editors to showcase some of the best submissions in the competition.

I am thankful that the above image was featured in this on-line gallery and would encourage you to visit the link above to see all the other great images that the editors have chosen to showcase. This image is standing out as one of my top images from last year. Sarah Kennel, Curator of Photography at the High Museum, also selected the photograph for a group exhibition in Alabama which just concluded this week.

“Just Another Day on Main Street - Los Angeles” CA -DSC 5976 6-2-20 © 2020 William Karl Valentine

Stonehenge Gallery 2021 Photo Exhibition

July 8, 2021

I am happy to announce that the above photograph was chosen to be in the Society of Arts and Crafts (SAC's) & Stonehenge Gallery 2021 Photo Exhibition in Montgomery, Alabama.

I am especially honored that selection was made by Sarah Kennel, the curator of photography at the High Museum in Atlanta, who juried this exhibition.

For anyone near Montgomery the in-person opening reception is on Saturday, July 10, at 5:30 p.m. CDT at Stonehenge Gallery in Montgomery, Alabama. The gallery is located at 401 Cloverdale Road in Montgomery.

For those unable to attend the live event, a concurrent livestream feed from the gallery will be on “The Nine” Facebook page starting at 5:30 p.m. CDT with an awards ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. Find “The Nine” on Facebook using this link:

https://www.facebook.com/The-Nine-108793704604391

Sarah Kennel, will also present a juror’s talk about the exhibit on Sunday, July 11, at 10:30 a.m. CDT, at the Georgine Clarke Alabama Artists Gallery. The gallery is located on the first floor of the RSA Tower in downtown Montgomery, 201 Monroe Street. There is plenty of on-street parking and no need to feed the parking meters on Sunday.

The juror’s talk will be recorded, and the video will be posted to The Nine YouTube channel.

After the exhibit at Stonehenge Gallery closes on Thursday, July 29, the exhibition will then move the International Arts Center, Huo Bao Zhu Gallery, at Troy University. The second exhibition will open on Monday, August 9 and close on Friday September 24th. The International Arts Center, Huo Bao Zhu Gallery, is located at 158 International Drive (formerly Luther Drive) at Troy University, in Troy Alabama.

About the Photograph: “Just Another Day on Main Street”

On June 2nd, 2020 I set out to photograph some of damage from the George Floyd protests/rioting which had gone on in Southern California the night before and hopefully document some of the protests rumored to be happening that day. My son drove so I could photograph from his truck and we could cover more areas. We started in Westwood, and I found lots of boarded up business and an emptiness that made for solid images. As we drove East on Wilshire, we encountered a march in Beverly Hills which we had no idea about beforehand. The march was organized and, on the sidewalk, so I was able to photograph from the passenger seat as we drove along side of it. In Hollywood we found lots of damaged businesses then stumbled in to the middle of a massive protest march, while we were out on foot, for an hour as the marchers moved through side streets trying to avoid being stopped by law enforcement before they could close a major intersection. From there we drove to Los Angeles City Hall where I had planned to meet up with a friend who is an LAPD Sergeant who was assigned to guard City Hall. Other than a vehicle pursuit which drove past while we were there, things were calm at City Hall. While standing on Main Street talking, the girls in the photograph caught my eye as they approached. I quickly realized the potential of the National Guard soldier and the Armored vehicle in the background and made the exposure when I tought everything lined up well. The pedestrian with the LA hat was a nice bonus and I think the red of the bike tires really enhance the message of the image. As with most my work I am looking for a good document of the event while also having elements in the frame that contrast one another to encourage the viewer to think deeper. I finished the day photographing a drive in protest at Pasadena City Hall. All in all the day was one of the best days I have had photographing considering the number of quality images I captured and their potential long term significance. In the past I have avoided titling most of my images but there seems to be a greater expectation today with submissions for a title so I gave some thought for a title for this image. The irony of the contrast between girls on a bike and skateboard with a soldier and armored vehicle are obvious, the masks nailed the fact it was 2020. The contrast was so crazy that I wanted a title which also had an element of contrast. The “Just another day” part came to mind while looking at the image. At first I thought “Just another day in Los Angeles” but then I realized the street we were on is actually Main Street and knew the perfect title was “Just Another Day on Main Street - Los Angeles” ( CA -DSC 5976 6-2-20 are file numbers for referencing).