Photographer and present MTSU Department of Media Arts lecturer Ian Edward White introduced a heat, acquainted perspective of the agricultural American South to a packed room within the John Bragg Media and Entertainment Building on Thursday, Feb. 26, as a part of the Artist Talk Series.
White’s ongoing picture collection, “Townes Ferry Pike,” takes viewers on a highway journey by Middle Tennessee.
In an announcement to “PhMuseum,” he describes this collection as “an emotional mapping of a place while reflecting on how a Southern town is perceived through space and time.”
Attendees had been handled to a full of life slideshow of the panorama and characters of cities akin to Shelbyville, Rock Island, McMinnville, Columbia and Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Accompanying his images had been White’s reflections on life and images, in addition to the teachings he discovered from every city he visited.
In a Q&A following the presentation, the artist elaborated additional on his observations of life and his inspiration for this collection. A local Californian, White confessed to having what he described as a “very limited view” of American Southern life, citing the 2000 satirical comedy-drama movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” starring George Clooney as one in every of his preliminary exposures to life within the area.
When requested about his present emotions towards the area after residing and experiencing it, White stated it was essential for him to make use of his images to seize the tradition and dignity of rural areas of the South which are usually left on the periphery of the metropolitan areas they encompass.
The lecturer described images as an outlet for him to connect with the locations and folks he visited.
The attendees had been primarily college students, a lot of whom have had or at present have White as their trainer. The admiration for White and his work was clear as they walked by The Baldwin Photographic Gallery, the place White’s collection is at present on show.
Senior Elisa Williams, a images minor and a present pupil of White, described him as a personable and trustworthy trainer who all the time goes out of his manner to assist college students. Williams stated that seeing him discuss his work and strategies was the primary motive she attended the lecture, and she or he was shocked by how the whole presentation had what she described as “a text feel.”
“It was really cool to see how he personally involves text into his image and into his work,” Williams stated.
Another of White’s present college students, senior video and movie manufacturing main Erika Hill, additionally expressed admiration for her trainer and the subject material of his collection.
“What I really loved is that he was photographing the Tennessee that I remember,” Hill stated. “I feel kind of ashamed to say sometimes that I’m from Tennessee, because it’s not the same Tennessee that I grew up with, but he’s capturing how I remember it as it is now.”
White’s collection “Townes Ferry Pike” is at present on show at The Baldwin Photographic Gallery, positioned on the second ground of the John Bragg Media and Entertainment Building, till Apr. 10, 2026.
To comply with White and his work, go to his website or comply with him on Instagram.
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