Southern Exposure Photography Exhibition Opens

From time to time, we’ll share a few related photography goings on, both here at the museum and in the community at large. Here’s a new photography exhibition at the MIA, Southern Exposure: Photographs of the American South, that just opened on Thursday, March 18.

Tad Simons reviews the exhibition for Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, read the review here

Southern Exposure: Photographs of the American South

The Deep South is one of America’s most distinctive regions. Its unique character has developed from such factors as its early geographical isolation from the North, its difficult legacy of slavery, its gripping summertime heat and humidity, its enduring hospitality, and the international flavor of some of its cities.

Indigenous and visiting photographers have captured enduring images of the landscape, architecture, and inhabitants of Dixie, from the time of the Civil War to the present. E. J. Bellocq, for instance, sensitively portrayed women in the red-light district of New Orleans a century ago. Walker Evans made many of his iconic Depression-era images in the South. Danny Lyon documented the turbulent Civil Rights Movement there. And contemporary photographers like Minnesota’s Alec Soth have been drawn to the mysterious ways of everyday Southern folk. The diverse work of these and many other photographers present a rich collage of this Southern sensibility. The exhibition includes about 75 photographs, drawn entirely from the MIA’s permanent collection.

The exhibition runs through Sunday, May 30, 2010, in the Harrison Photography Gallery at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Check out a few images below and come by the museum to see the entire show.

Robert Frank Savannah, Georgia, 1956 Gelatin silver print The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund, 92.107.3

Danny Lyon Atlanta, Georgia. High school student Taylor Washington is arrested at Lebs Delicatessen. His eighth arrest., 1963 Gelatin silver print The Alfred and Ingrid Lenz Harrison Fund, 2001.45.2.24

Alec William Soth
The Farm, Angola State Prison, Louisiana, 2002
Color coupler print
Gift of Vance Gellert, 2002.278