You Are Here

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"For such a simple phrase, You Are Here, contains an outsized tension: between the implication that one is lost and the certitude of being located in a specific place. This exhibition explores that opposition in the context of the rural American South and reveals a region that is equally enigmatic: constant, changing, violent, restorative, exotic, and known. Taken together, these photographs offer a view of the rural South that is rich and complicated, with recognizable textures and tools, familiar guides, and evidence of things not seen. At their most successful, the artists included here rely on unique aspects of photographic vision, embracing and challenging photography’s assumed role as a faithful record of place. Calling to mind questions about the capacity and limits of a photograph to effectively tell us about the world we inhabit, then, the works on display are as much about photography itself as they are about the varied landscapes, people, and histories of the American South. " 

-Brian Piper, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of Photographs, New Orleans Museum of Art