What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1004183
2 WHAT'S UP! JULY 15-21, 2018 Worth A Thousand Words Photos reveal evolution of 'Our Natural State' COVER STORY BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette "The photographers [chosen] for the exhibit are among the best to ever photograph in the Natural State," says Chuck Davis, photographer, photo historian and curator of "Our Natural State," on show through Aug. 17 at the Arts Center of the Ozarks in Springdale. The nearly 90 images "convey the state's vortex of transitioning values, told from the point of view of the artists and their subjects." "From a game of dominoes in New Hope, to a portrait on interracial marriage in Jonesboro, and on to a funeral home in Malvern — these visual vignettes can only begin to describe the collective unconscious of Arkansas," he adds. What's Up! asked some of the photographers to comment on their work — because their pictures are already worth a thousand words. DON HOUSE Hazel Valley "Any discussion of Arkansas, especially Northwest Arkansas, has to be tempered with the reality of the changes that have taken place here since I arrived. I was surrounded initially by people who had made decisions about priorities, who had traded making high income for a lifestyle that allowed a certain freedom. It was possible to live a frugal life, to find affordable housing, to be immersed in a community of kindred spirits. There were no gated communities, no starter castles — fewer things that separate people in a community rather than bring them together. Maybe that is why I tend to spend more of my time in the most rural, the most isolated, areas of the region, where patterns of life have endured for generations, not unchanged of course, but changed at a lesser rate, a more thoughtful pace. The architect Christopher Alexander spoke of the mistake that people often make when building a home: walking around the property, finding the most beautiful, the most spiritual spot, then ruining it by building a house on it. I hope people who come to Northwest Arkansas think: 'This is a beautiful place; how can I be part of it?' rather than 'This is a beautiful place; how can I make it more like Dallas or Kansas City or Detroit?' What is special about Arkansas is ours to throw away. I hope we don't." All photos courtesy the artists REBECCA DROLEN Fayetteville "In this work, titled 'Transplants,' I photograph people who have moved to Southern cities from elsewhere. I have only just begun to photograph in Northwest Arkansas, but have also made portraits for this project in Nashville, Atlanta and New Orleans. By photographing and representing people who consider themselves 'transplants' in these city spaces, I am most interested in the influences of 'outsiders' on a regional culture. I also am interested in the influence of the region on the individual." SABINE SCHMIDT Fayetteville "I came to Fayetteville from Memphis in 2002. I'm originally from Wiesbaden, Germany. I'm interested in shared understandings of home, place and belonging. The basic shape of a house is recognizable across cultures and time, as are the feelings and values associated with a house, and I find myself returning to that idea over and over again."