Since coming to the Center in 1999, David Wharton has immersed himself in making photographs of the Deep South. Mini-grants from the Mississippi Humanities Council have allowed him to work on several in-state documentary projects. These include photographic studies of the monthly First Monday Sale and Trade Days in Ripley; the traditional family- and worship-ways of two Primitive Baptist congregations in rural Panola and Lafayette Counties; the autumn cotton harvest in the Delta; and, currently, the people and activities of Oxford’s Second Baptist Church. At the same time, he’s also put considerable effort into making images that come from beyond the confines of specific projects—sometimes by attending social events (public and private), at other times by driving back roads with no particular destination in mind. He’s traveled the Deep South extensively over the past four years, always with an eye to making photographs, and the resulting pictures—of the region’s people, the things they do, and the places they and their activities have created–are starting to accumulate into a body of work in its own right.

The images in Southern Photographs are from this latter group. In a general sense, they represent Wharton’s attempt to understand the lives of Southerners, their surroundings, and the relationships that have developed between people and place in a visual way. He readily admits that this understanding is far from complete and will continue to evolve as time goes on. “I don’t think there will ever be a time when I’ll consider this project finished,” Wharton says. “I’m just going to have to keep on traveling around and making pictures that help me think about the South. Maybe someday they’ll help other people think about it too.” Wharton adds that one of his goals for this body of work is to see it published in book form.

Southern Photographs opened at Barnard Observatory’s Gammill Gallery on September 1. It will remain on exhibit through
November 7.