Photographer Alex Harris Boldly Challenges Stereotypes About the American South in a New Show at the High Museum—See Images Here

While museums around the globe are closed to the public, we
are spotlighting each day an inspiring exhibition that was
previously on view. Even if you can’t see it in person, allow us to
give you a virtual look. 

“Our Strange New Land: Photographs by Alex
Harris”
High Museum, Georgia

What the museum says: “The American South
has become a nexus of film production in the United States. By
2016, more major features were being shot in Georgia than in
California. Alex Harris began photographing this wave of
filmmaking, focusing his attention on independent productions that
were under way from Louisiana to Virginia. Our collective idea of
the South has largely been shaped by great storytellers—whether
novelists, musicians, or photographers—who endeavored to articulate
the layered character of this strange land.”

Why it’s worth a look: In this series,
scholar and photographer Alex Harris gives a glimpse at life in the
American South, in all its contradictions. “We are all actors
in our own lives, creating our sets, practicing our lines, refining
our characters, performing ourselves,” the artist has said, and
with the 65 photos in this exhibition, he attempts to capture a
behind-the-scenes look at that stagecraft of the self, turning his
lens to the production itself.

While a prolific photographer, Harris also co-founded the Center
for Documentary Studies at Duke University, and his interest in
turning an unbiased eye on society is evident, though viewers will
surely project their own emotions and hang ups onto the scenes.

Understanding that our collective view of the “South” is an
accumulation of stereotypes, dramatic vistas, and cultural rifts
that have largely been the creation of popular culture makes it
difficult to see these images as pure documents of fact, despite
the obvious difference between fictional stages and the reality of
the mechanics that power them.

What it looks like:

The post Photographer Alex Harris Boldly Challenges
Stereotypes About the American South in a New Show at the High
Museum—See Images Here appeared first on artnet
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