What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1448331
FEBRUARY 6-12, 2022 WHAT'S UP! 9 I remember going places with my parents and running into their old friends from high school, college and church. You always stop to say hello and see how people are doing. The conversation could be brief or at length, but from that, I learned what it meant to have a community of people you're familiar with. My parents also never really met a stranger, especially my dad. He'd always go out of his way to talk to anyone, it seemed, and I saw my mom make lifelong friends with people over the years. I always remember driving out to Marion, Jeanette, Lancing, Earl, Turell, Proctor, Hughes, Crawfordsville, and Parkin on a larger scope of family. The family occupied all of these places. They were people who farmed, school teachers, factory workers, retail, entrepreneurs, doctors, you name it. Like everyone else, we tried our best to treat everyone right, help when we could, and find some honest way to care for ourselves and our family. Every day involved everyday things such as going to school, church, grocery shopping, including the small farmer vendors you'd see on the side of the road in those gravel parking lots. It was just about resilience and survival, the passing down of traditions and values, faith and love. Q. How does the land tell the story of humanity in a way portraits of people can't? A. One way I can answer that from my perspective is the sense of familiarity you get from being in a place you've occupied for a significant amount of time. There's nothing I enjoy more than driving around or walking around without the use of G.P.S. There is a sense of independence or comfort when traveling without those things. You can use landmarks and react to your instincts that come from memory. This is what I experience when I visit the Arkansas Delta region now; this is what motivates me to take pictures of the land. I'm sitting around, and I remember that one gravel road we used to travel down to get to this family member's house. You remember textures, smells, the light and time of day, evenings in that same place. All of my senses come into play, and my desire to make images is for other people to experience the same things or be a reminder of their sense of place regarding the landscape. See Turner Page 37 Growing up, Turner says, "the main thing was learning how to treat people outside and inside your family. That was essential for my family and the community at large. Everyone knew each other for the most part." (Courtesy Image/Aaron R. Turner) "After leaving Ohio University, I went on to study art at Rutgers, Mason Gross School of the Arts," Turner says. "That was a life-changing decision. I didn't grow up thinking about becoming an artist or visiting museums that often. But once I became aware of what artists do, I knew it was for me. I can't imagine my life without a camera or art." (Courtesy Image/Aaron R. Turner)