CHANGING TIMES AND SOUTHERN PRIDE

This body of work communicates the effects of the changing landscape of rural America as well as Southern values and prides through an exploration of Highway 80 running through Georgia. Abandoned houses, businesses, agriculture, as well as American and religious iconography are depicted in order to express the nature and effects of declining rural areas -- but also in appreciation of the history of industrial and agricultural America.

These images were printed on cotton rag paper as a testament to the agricultural crop that played a large role in shaping the history of the South. Cotton became the first mass consumed commodity, and with that people became commodities too. The prolonged role of black slavery in America can be attributed to this one crop, and this recent, almost palpable, history of slavery and segregation has certainly shaped the culture of the South.

Though not necessarily a tangible one, one of the most valuable assets of these rural areas are their tight-knit communities, both from an economic standpoint and as an indication of their value system. The South is unique in that it fosters an identity separate from the rest of the country. They hold values of community, family, faith, and patriotism near -- apparent through the prolific amount of religious and American iconography displayed whether by household or roadside.

Through an exploration of the South’s unique culture and landscape shaped by agriculture and industry, I have portrayed the past meeting the present. Homes and businesses lie vacant, objects and infrastructure no longer relevant or useful remain in place, and the people of this region hold the history of their land and their Southern prides above all.