The South has occupied an uneasy place in the history of photography as both an example of regional exceptionalism and as the crucible from which American identity has been forged. As the first major survey of Southern photography in twenty-five years, this exhibition examines that complicated history and reveals the South’s critical impact on the evolution of the medium, posing timely questions about American culture and character.

Featuring many works from the High’s extensive collection, A Long Arc presents photographs of the American Civil War, which transformed the practice of photography across the nation and established visual codes for articulating national identity and expressing collective trauma. Photographs from the 1930s to the 1950s, featuring many created for the Farm Security Administration, demonstrate how that era defined a new kind of documentary aesthetic that dominated American photography for decades and included jarring and unsettling pictures exposing economic and racial disparities. With works drawn from the High’s unparalleled collection of civil rights–era photography, the exhibition shows how photographs of the movement in the decade that followed galvanized the nation with raw depictions of violence and the struggle for justice. Contemporary photography featured in the exhibition demonstrates how photographers working today continue to explore Southern history and themes to grasp American identity

Exhibition on View: September 15, 2023 - January 14, 2024

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From the 19th century onward photographs have captured America’s love affair with summer. A season defined by family, vacation and the outdoors – the long hot days of summer offer many an escape from the daily routine of work and school. A Summer’s Prayer examines photographs from Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s permanent collection that address themes reflected within the summer season – leisure, travel, memory and place.

A Summers Prayer is a meditation on summertime in the American South. Hopefully, like the season, this exhibition can provide the viewer a temporary diversion, a brief respite and escape from the troubles of the past few years.

Exhibition on View: June 11-Sept. 18, 2022

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In 1996, the High began commissioning photographers from across the world to engage with and explore the American South’s rich social and geographic landscape for its Picturing the South initiative. To date, the Museum has commissioned sixteen artists and has built a collection of more than three hundred photographs as part of the program, which include some of the most iconic photography projects of the last quarter century.

To mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of Picturing the South, the High will mount a major exhibition that brings together all the commissions for the first time. Taken as a whole, the photographs amount to a complex and layered archive of the region that addresses broad themes, from the legacy of slavery and racial justice to the social implications of the evolving landscape and the distinct and diverse character of the region’s people.

Works on view will include the first photographs in Sally Mann’s Motherland series; Dawoud Bey’s over-life-size portraits of Atlanta high school students; Richard Misrach’s Cancer Alleyindustrial landscapes; along with previous commissions by Alex Webb, Emmet Gowin, Alec Soth, Martin Parr, Kael Alford, Shane Lavalette, Abelardo Morell, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Alex Harris, and Mark Steinmetz; and new commissions by An-My Lê, Sheila Pree Bright, and Jim Goldberg, which will debut in the exhibition.

This exhibition is organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

Exhibition on View: November 4, 2021 – February 6, 2022

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