Southern Democratic

Sep 28

As part of the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial, “Backstories,” in Cincinnati, I have some work a new group show, Southern Democratic, curated by MARCH Galley and Institute 193 director, Phillip March Jones, and director of The Carnegie, Matt Distel. The show is an homage, of sorts, to William Eggleston’s 1976 book, Election Eve. That series is among Eggleston’s lesser-known works, a languid look at the South just before Jimmy Carter’s unexpected win in that fall’s election. Over time, it has come to be appreciated as a distillation of the texture and quiet of the South, before Carter’s ascent temporarily put it front and center in the American discourse. Jones and Distel’s Southern Democratic is meant to be something similar in 2024: a reflection on a present-day region that, in one way or another, will play a major part in yet another inflection point election.

From The Carnegie:

Southern Democratic is an exhibition of meditative vignettes, each featuring a specific body of work by an artist actively examining the changing world. The works are presented in dialogue with Election Eve, highlighting continued interest in concepts of place, life in the South, and uncanny imagery of the everyday.
Nearly 50 years later, the United States is on the precipice of another consequential presidential election, one that has the possibility to dramatically alter our collective futures across the region and beyond. It is the artists whose, often quiet, observations articulated through the lens of words, photographs, films, paintings, and sculpture succeed in truly seeing change––for better or for worse––as it is lived.

Other artists in the show include a few I greatly admire, like photographers Carey Neal Gough and Casey Joiner, as well as painter, Claudia Keep.

Ten photographs I made on a roadtrip across the south, from Georgia to Texas in summer 2024 were featured in the show.