The South on Lenscratch -- The States Project

Aline Smithson and her colleagues at the exceptionally fine Lenscratch blog have continued their exploration of these various (not-so-united, perhaps) United States in the States Project. 

This project seems invariably to identify a single state, then identify an overall curator who assembles 6 or so photographers to share portfolios of their work. 

The goal of the States Project, according to Lenscratch, is to provide a way of organizing a survey of contemporary photography that seeks to document the "countless stories [yet] to be told, new and innovative ways of working to explore, and photographic voices yet to be heard."

What binds these portfolios together seems more to be who knows whom, so Lenscratch seeks photographers who then choose work by other photographers "who are in close proximity." 

Ostensibly what is being documented here is similarity of zip code, rather than commonality of vision or similarity of subject or interpretation.  

So don't necessarily look at the work of photographers from the South whose work is featured in the States Project to give us a definition of what is or is not Southern photography.

Still, the South is the South, and that's our specialty. So, Southern states profiled under the States Project umbrella, since we last checked in, include Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, and the District of Columbia.

Louisiana 

The Louisiana entries in the States Project were curated by Vanessa Brown (see top photograph on this post), who also has a portfolio of her work as part of the Louisiana Collection.  

Brown has also included work by Anne George (see second photograph on this blog entry), whose portfolio of work from Louisiana is here.

Also included is work by Kevin Kline (see third photograph from the top of this blog entry), whose portfolio of work from Louisiana is here.

Also included is work by Lee Deigaard (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from Louisiana is here. 

Also included is work by Richard McCabe (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from Louisiana is here. 

Also included is work by Sean Yseult (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from Louisiana is here.

Also included is work by Zack Smith (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from Louisiana is here.

Tennessee

The Tennessee entries in the States Project were curated by Jerry Atnip  (see image directly above), who also has a portfolio of his work as part of the Tennessee Collection.  

Atnip has also included work by Jack Spencer  (see image second from the top of this blog entry), whose portfolio of work from Tennessee is here. 

Also included is work by Rachel Boillot (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from Tennessee is here. 
 

Also included is work by  Polly Chandler (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from Tennessee is here.

 Also included is work by Mike Smith  (see image third from the top of this blog entry), whose portfolio of work from Louisiana is here.

Also included is work by Aaron Hardin  (see image third from the top of this blog entry), whose portfolio of work from Tennessee is here.

Texas

 
The Texas entries in the States Project were curated by Adam Neese (see image directly above), who also has a portfolio of his work as part of the Texas Collection.  

Neese has also included work by Letitia Huckaby  (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from Texas is here.

Also included is work by Robert Collier Beam (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from Texas is here

Also included is work by Kasumi Chow and Desiree Espada  (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from Texas is here. 
 

Also included is work by Diane Durant (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from Texas is here.

Also included is work by Krista Steinke  (see image third from the top of this blog entry), whose portfolio of work from Texas is here.
 

Also included is work by Leigh Merrill (see image third from the top of this blog entry), whose portfolio of work from Texas is here.

District of Columbia 

I've gotten some blowback about including the District of Columbia on this blog. 

But my theory is, if you are outdoors in Washington, DC, in July or August, you have no question about what part of the USA you are in. 

In addition, the District of Columbia was carved out of two slave states (Maryland and Virginia), its key government buildings were built by slaves, slaves staffed the White House during the early years of the country, and DC went through the same descent into Jim Crow that the rest of the South did after Reconstruction was prematurely ended. 

So, until some of those facts change,  I'm continuing to believe that DC is a part of the South. West Virginia, now that's a more complicated story.

Anyway, the District of Columbia entries in the States Project were curated by Susanah Rabb (see image directly above), who also has a portfolio of her work as part of the District of Columbia Collection. 
 

Rabb has also included work by Jared Soares  (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from the District opf Columbia is here.

Also included is work by Tatiana Gulenkina (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from the District is here. 

Also included is work by Eman Mohammed (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from the District is here.

Also included is work by Louie Palu (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from the District is here.

Also included is work by Stephen Crowley (see image directly above), whose portfolio of work from the District is here.

Still more Southern states to go, for Lenscratch's States Project. We will look out for them, on the Southern Photographer.

Posted in: American Photography