Press release:
UNC Asheville will host a national traveling photo exhibition, Looking at Appalachia, from Nov. 3-17, in the S. Tucker Cooke Gallery in Owen Hall. The exhibition and two companion events are free and open to the public.
Looking at Appalachia, conceived by documentary photographer Roger May during the 50th anniversary of the 1964 declaration of a federal War On Poverty, establishes a visual counterpoint to the stereotyped images of the region. Appalachia became the visual focal point of the nation’s attention to poverty, through images often drawn from the poorest areas, which came to represent the entire region. Looking at Appalachia has been featured in coverage by The New York Times, National Geographic’s “Proof: Picture Series” blog, Global Citizen, West Virginia Public Broadcasting and elsewhere.
Two special events, also free, will accompany the exhibition:
· A lecture on the exhibition and the history of photographing Appalachia, will be delivered by UNC Asheville faculty members Erica Abrams Locklear, associate professor of literature and language, and Dan Pierce, chair and professor of history. UNC Asheville senior George Etheredge, who has two photos in the exhibition, also will participate. This event takes place from noon-1 p.m. on the exhibit’s opening day, Tuesday, Nov. 3 in the gallery.
· An artist talk by May and several featured photographers will take place at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, followed by a reception from 6-8 p.m. in the gallery.The exhibit features 75 photographs, including work by Etheredge, selected by May from more than two thousand submissions by a diverse population of photographers.
Etheredge, in addition to his two photographs featured in Looking at Appalachia, has had his photojournalism essays and photograph series published in several online and print publications this year, including Modern Farmer, Asheville Citizen-Times and Mountain Xpress.
S. Tucker Cooke Gallery is open from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays. For more information, contact UNC Asheville’s Department of Art and Art History at 828.251.6559 or visit art.unca.edu.
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