phers working in the South byAperturemagazine
in their issue,New Southern Photography: Between
Myth and Realityin 1989.
By this time, the region moved from being referred
to as the New South to becoming the Contemporary
South. There were artists coming from the outside
whose work addressed the passionate issues around
race relations and how the shadow of racism was still
cast over the region. Christian Walker (b. 1954)
moved to Atlanta in 1983 after studying at the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Very
articulate and vocal about the issues of racism, seg-
regation, and power, Walker set out to visually
address the half truths found in the Southern social
and cultural environment through incorporation of
W.E.B. DuBois’ color separation theory and post-
modernist hybrid techniques. Carrie Mae Weems
traveled south to create a personal and visual rein-
terpretation of the history of the landscape, slavery,
and the inhabitants of Sea Islands, off the coast of
Georgia. Digging into oral and written traditions,
Weems then synthesized what she learned with archi-
val images to bring forth the internal meanings and
limitations of historical records.
Weaving her own private narratives and creating
fictional stories into her work, Lynn Marshall-Lin-
nemeier is known for her ‘‘illuminated photo-
graphs,’’ handpainted black and white images.
Originally from Southern Pines, North Carolina,
Linnemeier (b. 1955) uses her art and her knowl-
edge of rich oral traditions to create magical visions
of people who have risen above the hardships of
their lives. A fellowship in 1994 enabled her to
spiritually link the residents of Reynoldstown, a
historic neighborhood in east Atlanta where freed
slaves first settled, to the aboriginal community in
Point Pearce in South Australia, a project entitled
A Rendezvous With Time.
The 1990s became a time to showcase the work
of photographers in the South. As their work was
published and received critical attention, photogra-
phers were encouraged to continue their explora-
tion of their surroundings with renewed interest,
finding new ways to view the land, its people, his-
tory, and mythology. For many, photography be-
came a medium to express the diversification of the
New Contemporary South, with a distinctly South-
ern narrative impulse. Blending present observa-
tions and individuals, new work became about
going beyond the contemporary cliche ́s of red-
necks, stock car racing, and Confederate flag bum-
per stickers. The changing state of mind became
represented by race, religion, and politics. Urban
and suburban development went side by side with
rural enclaves. Irony, fantasy, and satire reigned.
Where one came from became less relevant. What
mattered was the ability to ‘‘see.’’
Support for the photographic arts expanded to
encompass community and regional organized
events. Founded in 1983 by Wendy Watriss and
Fred Baldwin, FotoFest in Houston, Texas, was
thriving as a biennial, month-long comprehensive
site for exhibitions and educational programs each
March. A nonprofit organization whose goals are
to educate and to support the arts, the event had
become internationally known and drew portfolio
reviewers from around the world. A similar sup-
port organization was started in Del Ray Beach,
Florida in 1994. FotoFusion, established by Art
and Fatima NeJame, became an annual three-to-
four day conference of lectures, portfolio reviews,
workshops, and exhibitions, usually taking place
the third weekend in January. Atlanta Celebrates
Photography, another nonprofit organization with
community-wide educational objectives, began in
1999 in Atlanta, Georgia. Held annually each fall,
programming was dedicated to providing an envir-
onment for educating, networking, and promotion
of the photographic arts in the community.
The first museum in the South to be devoted to
photography, The Southeast Museum of Photogra-
phy, opened in 1992 as part of the Daytona Beach
Community College in Florida. Alison Devine
Nordstrom, a professor in interdisciplinary cultural
studies, became its director and senior curator.
A highpoint in the 1990s in the South was the
occasion of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. The
High Museum of Art presented the expansive exhi-
bition,Picturing the South: 1860 to the Present.
Curated by Ellen Dugan, Picturing the South
brought forth to the global forum a discussion of
how the South has been interpreted and under-
stood through photography. The following year,
the Southeast Museum of Photography continued
the dialogue about photographic work in the South
in its exhibit,(Re)Presenting the South: Six Con-
temporary Photography, organized by Nordstrom.
Both exhibitions succeeded in stimulating an open
discussion about what Southern photography once
was and what it was becoming. Where in the past
its art was determined as a regional style, the South
was becoming a region with many distinctive, si-
multaneous styles.
There were photographers who continued to
seek the hidden back roads of the Southern land-
scape, to find the remote places where the Old
South still thrived. Nostalgic memories about the
land and its people remained a source of interpre-
tation and inspiration. The reasons why varied
from curiosity to a yearning to go back to one’sUNITED STATES: THE SOUTH, PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE