Untitled, from the series 'Ruins of the Gilded Age' 2008 (Arizona, USA)
C-type print, 98x127cm & 40x52cm
Edition of 5
© Edgar Martins

The constructions in this image are restricted to some of the pipe work in the ceiling as well as the objects in the foreground which were simply increased in number and, of course, in some cases mirrored.

My starting point for this construction was a simple statement which I once read: 'only a bad architect relies on symmetry; instead of symmetrical layout of blocks, masses and structures, Modernist architecture relies on wings and balance of masses'.

My intention was to draw on references form Modernism Art, thus also alluding to the wider concerns in my work, particularly with respect to the impact of Modernism on the environment.

Untitled, from the series 'The Accidental Theorist' 2007 (Portugal)
C-type print, 66x83cm & 98x127cm
Edition of 5 & 3
© Edgar Martins

This project defined a way of working which has shaped my practice.
This work has two distinct phases: the photographs which I produced prior to 2007 and the images which followed.

With regards to the images produced post 2007, these deploy a different approach. I produced a limited selection of photographs which further explore the idea of construction and theatricality. The primary objective was to further enhance the temporal experience of these images. I have always made a conscious attempt to differentiate between the two different approaches publicly.

Both myself and the editors of 'Topologies' felt that these images should not be included in the publication given the different approach which was used.
However, I have since sought to include at least one image from this latter phase in the exhibitions of this work which have taken place since early 2008. Much like the fires in the 'Black Holes' project or the obvious symmetries at play in others, these images play a specific role.

For two years I had longed to produce a reasonably long exposure of an individual in this stretch of coastline. However, due to the approach which I had devised (solely portraying found scenario), I soon realised that photographing a single person in the less well light beaches, at the proposed time of night, and for an extended period of time, would simply not be feasible. Even if staged I did not believe the person would be able to convey all of the things which I had envisaged he/she would. However, In September 2007, through a chance encounter, I was finally able to produce such a photograph.

Stepping out of downtown Lisbon's underground station I came across a street performer, a so called 'human-statue', that seemed connected to my images in more ways than I could ever have imagined.

His black coat, pants, hat and tie looked as though they were being blown back by a strong gust of wind. This effect was no doubt shaped by a wire structure sewn into the lining of the clothes. His facial expressions, hairstyle and stature, supported by the briefcase he was holding spoke of displacement; of a person trapped in a space of permanent arrivals and departures. There was a magical sense of movement to his performance. Yet, he was as still as the umbrella which I had photographed the night before in one of these beaches.
For years I had sought to represent movement in still and inanimate objects, highlighting photography's inability to capture or represent time.
In front of me was an individual who had mastered the art of conveying time through body language.

In an uncharacteristic move for me, I approached this individual; not only interrupting his performance but also proceeding to tell him all about my project.
We agreed to meet that same evening at a beach in the outskirts of Lisbon. I had asked him to produce two 30 minute performances at that location, from 10 PM onwards.

I did not know if he'd show up, given the casual nature of our agreement, but luckily he adhered to the schedule. Bound by a shared understanding, this is how Pian and I produced this photograph.This photograph represents more than a mere individual performance for me. My work is generally produced in peripheral regions, in spaces where there is a dialectic of stasis and flux that is in a constant state of uncertain transformation. In this landscape of uncertainty, where everything expresses contingency, and where space and time are about to simmer and disperse, a lasting friendship was forged. This is the only landscape that survives our absence.

Untitled, from the series 'Ruins of the Gilded Age' 2008 (Montana, USA)
C-type print, 98x127cm & 40x52cm
Edition of 5
© Edgar Martins

Similarly to the photograph of a wooden house interior, shot on the outskirts of Phoenix, which sparked the current debate, I produced other mirrored interiors, which I submitted to the New York Times magazine.The structural and cosmetic properties of this image are strikingly symmetrical. It explores an imaginary sense of "wholeness" to the experience of a fragmentary reality.

Untitled, from the series 'Ruins of the Gilded Age' 2008 (Nevada, USA)
C-type print, 98x127cm & 40x52cm
Edition of 5
© Edgar Martins

The left hand side of the image was mirrored on the right hand side. Paradoxically, the original image was almost identical to this photograph, the only difference being the shadow on the ground which wasn't as pronounced. My objective was to highlight the 'V" shape on the ground. It occurred to me whilst producing this project that many of the developments which I had visited had single letters or various coded signs spread throughout them. These would often be painted on the doors of abandoned residential developments, on the outside perimeter fences of commercial complexes or in this case on the bare walls of the building. It reminded me of terminology and markings which were used on the house fronts in the aftermath of Katrina.
I was therefore contemplating if the reference to such symbols might resonate with the viewer at a subconscious level.
The symbol 'V' is more traditionally associated to 'Victory' but also to 'Versus'. Following this train of thought we could also associate it to 'Volt', 'Velocity' (these being elevator shafts).
The symbol 'V', in itself, can also be understood as an acronym for symmetry.
I have always sought to explore multi-layered images. In my view this is one of the ways in which Photography can overcome the single-frame's limitations.
A symbolic meaning is selected by a common lexicon of symbols, which seeks out the viewer.
The obvious meaning, as Barthes argues, overwhelms ambiguity.
The obtuse meaning, on the other hand, 'has something to do with disguise'. It comprises 'a layering of meanings which allows the previous one to subsist, as in a geological formation; to speak the contrary without renouncing the thing contradicted' (Barthes, Roland, The Responsibility of Forms, University of California Press, published by Farrar, Starus & Giroux, 1991). The symmetrical facet assumes this function.

Untitled, from the series 'Black Holes & Other Inconsistencies' 2003 (Portugal)
C-type print 40x52cm
Edition of 5
© Edgar Martins

This fire was also staged in a middle of a dark road in Portugal. It was lit by a single flash. The images of fires were only conceived once the project was nearing completion. I felt anxious that the reader would not view the book and the work (moreover its production) as an inter-related process. I did not want it to be understood as a compilation of disparate photos taken in different locations and at different periods of time. It was therefore important to create a set of images which accentuated the ambiguity of the work and which positioned the author 'in the present tense' in relation to the process of production of the images and rationalization of the work.
In Bachelard's The Psychoanalysis of Fire, the phenomenon of fire is presented as the prime element of reverie, an object of consuming essence where one is able to see oneself mirrored. A metaphor for performance, fire is also associated to the process of change - Bachelard maintains that 'all that changes quickly can be explained by fire'.
No digital processes were involved in the conception of this photograph.

Untitled, from the series 'The Diminishing Present' 2006 (UK)
C-type print, 98x127cm
Edition of 5
© Edgar Martins

Apart from three symmetrical constructions included in this body of work it portrays solely found scenario. No digital processes were involved in the conception of this photograph.
The Diminishing Present assesses how various natural spaces have been forced to conform to increasingly urban and artistic ideals, adopting the codes and language that it yields.
At times the work seems to question whether space as a totality escapes the perception of the individual; whether our experience of place, as a whole, has become an incipient forum of disruptive experiences and expression; whether the movement of information and people and the commodification of cultural forms outlines a unique body of flow and false consciousness.
But at other times it simply proposes that we are no longer mere transients.
The Diminishing Present is a journey of recognition: the city and, in a broader sense, space, as our object of understanding is changing and because of this one needs to find a new critical language that supports it, and a new system of knowledge from which to derive our glossary of life.

Untitled, from the series 'Ruins of the Gilded Age' 2008 (Georgia, USA)
C-type print, 98x254cm
Edition of 5
© Edgar Martins

This panoramic photograph was conceived by mirroring the same image and making subtle digital alterations. As with most of the visual hyperbolic statements which pervade my work, the symmetry is not subtle in its psychological nuances. My overall intention was to replicate another image which I took of this house, where the sunset was reflected on one of the top windows only.
The digitally constructions have an important role in the project.
Fragmented spaces become metaphors for one's fragmented memories.
These houses are also a psychological interior.

These first three photos show some of the results from this collaboration. A technical note is required: The jpegs fail to reproduce the very subtle tonings of Amira's analog prints. What's more, what look like golden haloes are, in fact, just that: a thin layer of gold, applied to the prints.

While collaborating with the fashion winner is not a guaranteed part of the Festival, having to shoot the work of the ten fashion designers hoping to win the next year is. This clearly is one of the many perks that many other photo festivals can't match: Where else does a young fine-art photographer get to do an actual fashion shoot (in this case in a photo studio in Paris)? The remaining photographs are three of the ten photos Amira shot for the 2009 Festival.

Note that, again, the jpegs don't do the actual photos much justice.

The flowers in all the photos tie in with Amira's non-fashion work. Different flowers have different meanings, as is probably not very commonly known any longer (many people probably only know when and how to use red roses). Those interested in this can find a huge list here.

"Actually, it was ten," Harald (who had been sitting a little bit in the background) said, and when I started to ask him about the story, he sat down next to me to tell me. When he mentioned the report the Stasi had compiled about his work I asked him about it. He got up, looked through one of the shelves, brought back a stack of papers and showed it to me. There it was, a copy of the Stasi's reaction to his book. Of course, I had heard about the Stasi reports before, but I had never actually seen one.

We talked about the book and the Stasi's reaction a little bit. As it turned out, the Stasi had attempted to act a bit like a photo critic. For each of the photographs, there was an actual critique. It was pretty amazing. So I asked Harald whether he'd be willing to share this story. My idea was to show some of the photos from the book along with the Stasi's comments from his reports. He immediately agreed to it.

Today, I found the images plus scans of some of the pages from the reports in my inbox. Harald had marked the relevant portions to make it easier to see what was going on. Amazing! I can only thank him for making this story available to a larger audience, especially one outside of Germany.

The book has since been re-issued in an expanded bi-lingual version. It's a bit hard to find outside of Germany. Alibris.com seems to have some copies, there are some options here; maybe easiest would be German Amazon (remember, the book is bilingual anyway).

In the interest of making things a bit easier for the reader, I will give the Stasi's reactions right after the photos, followed by my own translation (the translated text will be given using italics). To start everything off, this is what one of the pages (this one is the first) actually looks like.

From these pages I took the relevant sections for the following examples (as I said, Harald had marked them for me). Here's the Stasi's introduction to their report:

This well produced book, which contains text and images, was obviously published at the occasion of Berlin's 750th anniversary. Its main purpose becomes obvious immediately, if not from its cover photo, then from the following ten pages. The idea is to present the capital of the GDR [East Germany's official name was German Democratic Republic, GDR] not as it is, but according to the ideas of circles hostile to its constitution. The authorship of two young men from within opposition or dissident groups is intended to create a pretense of knowledge and "objectivity".

Especially the selection of the images gives away that we are dealing with a book that has a long-term purpose. People gathered everything somber, oppressive, from poor neighbourhoods, or primitive they could find. It seems apparent that color was intentionally omitted, because only black and white reproduction stresses the supposedly gray, bleak and dismal reality of East Berlin.

The cover of the first book's first (West German) edition:

The cover photo: Nothing against a technically interesting detail such as the cathedral mirrored in the windows of the Palast der Republik [East Germany's parliamentary building, demolished recently]. But as the title its dominant message is: East Berlin behind bars! (note the translation here, and in the following, only covers the areas marked by Harald, using orange red; the "KOPIE BStU" lettering indicates that the page is a copy authorized by [united] Germany's government agency in charge of the Stasi files)

and:

The title's announcement that the book talked about the other side of a city using text and images isn't even worth the red ink [remember, red was the colour of the Communist party!]. A basic idea, like a red thread ["red thread" here is just the translation of a German term], does not exist. All stylistic means of an image-based and emotional language are used to mix impressions, memories, real, invented, made up or lying stories into a hodgepodge of half truths and slander, presented to the reader as reality.

Onto some of the images:

Three grumpy looking passengers in public transportation.

Police control - c.f. police state GDR

Apparently, bathing fashion show in "East Berlin" is really just crap: C.f. photo on page 50, apparently taken during a break, when only a few kids were prowling around.

Page 63 contains a lot of run-down streets and houses, almost devoid of people, furthermore a photo of an empty playground. Where are the children? Every once in a while you see some in other photos, a couple of times even a lot of them. But to make sure this impression won't last, on page 161 for example a large, empty, unplastered wall of a house, in front of which [you see] a child playing in the dirt: East Berlin slums! [Here, I translated the whole section]

The more desolate, the more desirable. You gotta give it to Hauswald, he must have looked busily and maybe sometimes frustratingly long. Until he found "the withered symbol of the leading party".Would there otherwise have been a chance for the symbol to find its way into the book? The answer is obvious.

Just like on the cover Hauswald loves bars. According to the text: "Pioneer behind the symbol of her organization" Behind bars, against a dark background

About the first photo of this past, the Stasi had this to say: "Aufnahme von einer Gruppe Fahnenträger am Schluss der Maidemonstration 1987, wo bekanntlich ein Unwetter sich entlud. Hauswald hat genau den Moment abgepasst, wo eine für sich abgespaltene Fahnenträgergruppe von Regen und Wind durcheinandergewirbelt wird. Fahnenstangen kreuz und quer, gebeugte, sich mühsam haltende Fahnenträger. Übertragene Wunschvorstellung des Reporters?“ Translation: Photo of a group of banner/flag carriers at the end of the May 1st demonstration 1987, where, as is well known, a thunderstorm happened. Hauswald waited for exactly the moment when a separated group of banner/flag carriers is being messed up by the rain and wind. Flag poles here and there, banner/flag carriers barely able to remain on their feet. Projected wishful thinking of the reporter?

I look at the people who killed our families not necessarily as enemies, but as people who should be forgiven because they didn’t know what they were doing. It is beyond comprehension. Even animals cannot behave like the militias behaved. When I hid in the jungle, I lived near a small animal in the bush. It never harmed me. But when I fled the jungle, militiamen cut me with machetes. Now who is more understanding, the beast or the Hutu?

Honestly, I don’t understand why the Hutus did this. One of the people who cut me with a machete was a boy who stayed in our home. For years, we shared the same food. My father had given a cow to one of the people who ultimately killed him.

I was still a virgin at the time of the genocide. I didn’t know what it felt like to be pregnant, but when I realized I was, I became depressed. I had suffered enough. But when I saw my son for the first time, I felt I had been given another brother. After all that I went through, he is a gift; he’s my consolation.

The effects of the genocide are very fresh on us. We have children born as a result of this violence. These children are everyone’s responsibility. It is my wish that they will get to go to school, because if you go to school, you have a better life.

Josette with her son, Thomas; © Jonathan Torgovnik

The militia came in the evening and locked us in a house. Then they said they were going to rape us, but they used the word marry. They said they were going to marry us until we stopped breathing. They would rape us at night, and then the next day they would go out to kill. That was the pattern of our lives. Every morning they hit us ten times. After hitting us, we got a different man. Eventually my sister said it was too much, that we needed to commit suicide. I left, but I didn’t know where to go.

My uncle didn’t welcome me into his house. He asked me who was responsible for my pregnancy. I said if I am pregnant, then it must be the militias since many of them had raped me. He said I shouldn’t enter his house carrying a baby of the Hutus and chased me away.

I must be honest with you; I never loved this child. Whenever I remember what his father did to me, I used to feel the only revenge would be to kill his son. But I never did that. I forced myself to like him, but he is unlikable. The boy is too stubborn and bad. He behaves like a street child. It’s not because he knows that I don’t love him; it is that blood in him.

Valentine with her daughters, Amelie and Inez; © Jonathan Torgovnik

That fateful day, April 9, is when they attacked my husband’s house and killed him. We had just ended our honeymoon. We had been married for three months, and I was two months pregnant, carrying a little girl. The head of the militias was ruthless and put a spear in my leg to force my legs apart. I was raped every night, and during the day, they locked me in.

When I was in a refugee camp in Congo, I gave birth to my daughter. Fortunately, she was alive. I stayed there and was raped by other men as they wished. Shortly afterward, I became pregnant again. One day, I boarded a truck that was bringing people back to Rwanda. When we arrived, I learned the news of my family: they had all been killed. I am the only survivor in my family. It took me a long time to be able to sit and talk like we are sitting here now.

I love my first daughter more because I gave birth to her as a result of love. Her father was my husband. The second girl is a result of unwanted circumstance. I never loved her father. My love is divided, but slowly, I am beginning to appreciate that the younger daughter is innocent. I love her only now that I am beginning to appreciate that she is my daughter, too.

Beatrice and her sons, Antoine and Geoffrey; © Jonathan Torgovnik

I’m not happy being a mother—I have two children as a result of rape. These children have distorted my life. The experience of rape has thwarted my ambitions. My children don’t have a family and their future is not clear.
I don’t know where they belong. They don’t know where they belong. All they see is me, but I am not able to sustain myself. I don’t see a bright future for them because they don’t have a family. They don’t have a father. They don’t have an address. They don’t belong anywhere. They are not recognized by the community.

The genocide started when I was seventeen. I hid in the forest for a night and then decided to go to one of my uncles' homes to hide. I stayed there for only a day before the militias came and one of them took me. But when we reached his house, he told me he had “married” me, that I was now his “wife.” He raped me every night and kept me captive. Because of the way I look, I couldn’t go out of the house. Hutus were all around, and they would recognize me immediately. I got pregnant, and the result is that young boy, Antoine. This militiaman kept me until the RPF forces were advancing, and he forced me to go with him into exile in Burundi and then to Tanzania. Because I was raped every day, I got pregnant again and, in 1996, had a second child, Geoffrey.

Odette with her son, Martin; © Jonathan Torgovnik

When the militiaman was going to rape me, I begged him kindly, saying, “I’m still a student. I’m still young. Wait. When I finish school, I will be your wife, but please don’t rape me.” Then he told me, “You don’t have time to go to school, so forget about being anyone’s wife. Even if you are lucky enough to survive, you will just be a maid in my house.”

Before my father died, he told me that I shouldn’t get pregnant before marriage. I imagined my brother asking me, “Why are you pregnant? Who got you pregnant?” While I was pregnant with a child of rape, I thought of my father’s wish that after four years of secondary school, I should go to a convent and become a nun. I tried to abort the baby, but I didn’t know how to do it. I also thought it was a sin against God, so I decided to keep my pregnancy.

I started loving my son when I went back to school and I began studying psychology. That’s when I knew that this child of mine needed a lot of attention and that he’s innocent. I tried to remove the hatred from me and turn it into love.

I don’t think I’m a mother. I don’t think I’m a girl. I’m something in between, something I don’t know. Because a mother must have a home. I don’t have a home. A girl doesn’t have a child. I have a child.

(photo by Hellen van Meene)

Needless to say, taken together with the fact that the kinds of naked people ubiquitously seen in advertizements for the most part represent idealized, artificial beauty standards, which are unattainable for the vast majority of the population, for a large number of people this development has resulted in an alienation from their own bodies, with eating disorders being an almost logical consequence.

The rise and acceptance of pornography in the cultural mainstream has added further toxins to the subject matter.

(photo by Shen Wei)

The fact that many contemporary photographers have responded to these challenges has so far not gained much exposure. Unfortunately and maybe not surprisingly, the only work that has gained any kind of wider attention has centered on pornography (for example, Larry Sultan's "The Valley", or Timothy Greenfield-Sander's portraits of porn stars). The efforts of many other photographers - female and male - to portray the naked human body - female and male - in its most natural state, using subjects that do not conform to beauty standards unattainable by 95% of the population, have so far for the most part been ignored.

With 'Bare', a group show of photography, I have attempted to gather some of these contemporary photographers in a single exhibition space. The images in 'Bare' all show the naked or very lightly concealed human form, with the nudity not being the sole purpose of the images. Instead, what is to be gained from viewing these photographs emerges from the interaction between the photographer and his or her model(s) and from the underlying tensions, caused by the differences in genders - the latter being the only place where there is a hint of sexuality in 'Bare'.

What is more, the photographs also show the human body in its many different forms, with its simple inherent beauty, a beauty we are almost surprised to find after being flooded with images of anorexic, oversexed, and overly Photoshopped models.

(photo by Alec Soth)

Bare, a group show of photography, is still on view at Michael Mazzeo Gallery (until 24 January 2009). Participating artists: Rachael Dunville, Amy Elkins, Ethan Aaro Jones, Richard Learoyd, Jennifer Loeber, Hellen van Meene, Josh Quigley, Richard Renaldi, Jessica Roberts, Alec Soth, Shen Wei, Carmen Winant

Here are more of Rick's photos and the captions he wrote for them:

"Boozoo Chavis had the first zydeco 'hit' back in 1956 with a song called 'Paper In My Shoe', a song about ballin' through life with homemade paper innersoles. Suspicious over lack of royalty payments he promptly retired from playing music for the next 30 years and trained champion racehorses instead. This image (in color) was used as the cover of his 'Zydeco Trail Ride' album. The thrill I felt going to 'Dog Hill' (his compound outside of Lake Charles, LA, mentioned in many of his songs, as in 'fine, fine women, live in Dog Hill') to photograph him was surpassed only by the quality of gumbo prepared by his wife, Leona (also mentioned in several of his songs)."

"Several of the images in my 'Zydeco!' book were shot on the first night I ever walked into a zydeco club. I was summoned to Richard's Club in Lawtell, LA, to photograph a live recording for Rounder Records, and upon entering the club I experienced an overwhelming delight at the cultural and visual goldmine that was mid-1980's zydeco. After the gig I set up a small strobe and Boozoo simply got his accordion and started playing (solo) exactly where he should be. I recall actually holding my breath in the dark club as I triggered the Hasselblad and thinking: 'Dear God, please let these be in focus and not underexposed.' The beer clocks were arranged within the strange painted plywood window like a Rauschenberg construction, and in just one frame Boozoo's cowboy hat and s-curve accordion reached a visual synch with the dangling key chain. The 'LA' (light alcohol but also a 'Louisiana' abbreviation) sign at right placed us deep in the bowels of Louisiana homegrown culture and would later reappear in various versions in other clubs and photographs."

"Zydeco, like most 'folk' music, is verbally/musically transmitted from generation-to-generation without written transcription. Young players like Gerard Delafose (now in his mid-20's) will often accompany their fathers, brothers, and uncles to gigs so the education begins early. This was shot at a John Delafose (his grandfather) gig at Richard's and I made less than a dozen exposures that night. Sometimes I didn't even take out the camera after my two hour drive. (I'm not one to shoot simply because I'm there.) Throughout this project signs kept elbowing their way into my frame that often synched perfectly to the subject. The cropped Pepsi sign at right contains an encircled 'R' below the capitalized 'PEP' to read figuratively as 'pepper', a description that definitely fit the 6-year-old Gerard. I recall the Eunice Playboys being pretty hot that night, too."

"'Papa Paul' Goodly had only one request (translated from Creole French to me by his granddaughter) when I entered his Mamou, Louisiana, club to make his portrait and that was for his dog, Jack, to be included in the picture. As a dog owner I was happy to comply. I couldn't resist opening the 'Men!' room door (most of the collectors who have purchased this print from me have been women) and framing in much of the beautifully ramshackle texture: fake brick, code violations, and the ubiquitous hanging bare bulb. A gig poster for another of Mr. Paul's grandchildren, 'Miss Ann Goodly', hangs over his shoulder. Diane Arbus was right on when she stated that photography was a way to pay attention to people and most people enjoy the attention."

"Zydeco is full of family bands. Sandra Serile played bass for Delton Broussard and several of his sons' bands. Her brother Jimmy was a talented scrubboard player known for his skew-legged breakdowns onto the dancefloor while playing. This picture shows the incredible freedom one can have while shooting within the confines of the 'documentary' project. It became second nature for me to frame symbolic signage in the clubs, open doors to expose the surrounding landscape, and put my lights in unconventional places. Set up and watch, or suggest a pose, while stuff happened. The mad style these folks routinely rocked still knocks me out. But I never anticipated how fragile this culture would be. Most of these clubs are long gone, many of the players have retired or passed on. It all disappeared much too quickly."

"Amedee' was a constant and mostly-silent presence at Richard's ('ree-shards') Club throughout the '80's. He drove a low-slung '79 Chevy Bel-Air (seen frame left, shag carpet on the back dash) and helped owner Kermon Richard clean up after riotous weekend gigs. His totally sweet disposition and dapper leisure suits made him a perfect subject for a portrait I had in mind using the 'Cooler' sign Kermon hung up as a window curtain. Tri-X, f32, a tripod, and hand-held flash allowed me to open the shutter, run inside (I was wearing my uniform of white t-shirt/jeans) and pop the flash, then run back out and close the shutter. For me, this is photographic ecstasy. The bare light bulb became my talisman, stale beer and cigarette smoke my incense, the legendary zydeco clubs of the former 'Chitlin Circuit' my hallowed ground."

What maybe has always drawn me towards his work is how infused it is with humanity and compassion, even when covering such gruesome events as the battle of Saipan. Who can remain unmoved by the image of the dying infant (even in this day and age where we have literally seen each and every carnage, from every possible angle)? Note how images like this one or this one look almost contemporary, don't they?

In 1951, Smith went to Spain and came back with another outstanding set of images, famously this one or this one.

Not to be missed, of course, are both the Country Doctor series and his work on nurse/midwife Maude Callen. "After the war, Smith undertook a series of photo-essays for LIFE magazine. Smith would spend weeks immersing himself in the lives of his subjects. This approach, very different from the usual practices of photojournalism, reflected Smith's desire to reveal the true essence of his subjects. For 'Nurse Midwife,' the story of Maude Callen, a black woman working in an impoverished community in the rural South, Smith wanted his essay to 'make a very strong point about racism, by simply showing a remarkable woman doing a remarkable job in an impossible situation.'" (source).

The catalogue talks at length about the newspaper and the photography, and this following quote by Circuit Court Judge D'Army Bailey wonderfully describes both: "We had our portraits made to reinforce our own stereotypes, which were positive. We saw ourselves as sharp. Our shoes were shined, our pants were pressed, and we were well presented. We had a lot of self-pride, and pictures provided an affirmation of how clean we were in our own mind. We weren't sending messages to white people. We were sending messages to each other, sharing evidence of our vision of ourselves to our friends and family and carrying those visions forward to posterity. Everything critical to our growth and sustenance was supplied by blacks within the black community, and for us, photography provided an extension of ourselves at our best."

The exhibitions shows photographs from the photographic archives of the Memphis World that the museum acquired in late 2006, or, more accurately, "the collection may be all that remains" of those archives. The photographs were then "reunited with their captions" by looking through microfilm archives at the Memphis Public Library, and research was done on the subjects.

The catalogue is on sale at the museum shop, but if you email them, they will hopefully be willing/able to sell it to you online/over the phone.

All images were provided by the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. The museum's chief curator, Marina Pacini, alerted me to the show and was kind enough to help me with the images - thank you! Image credits (in the order of appearance, from top to bottom):

Clarence Blakely, American
ALL SET FOR THE PET DOG SHOW, July 9, 1954
Silver gelatin print
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Purchase; funds provided by Sara and Kevin Adams, Deupree Family Foundation, Henry and Lynne Turley, Kaywin Feldman and Jim Lutz and Marina Pacini and David McCarthy

Reese Studio, American
MISS CLARA ANN TWIGG SEEN WITH OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS,
August 25, 1956
Silver gelatin print
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Purchase; funds provided by Sara and Kevin Adams, Deupree Family Foundation, Henry and Lynne Turley, Kaywin Feldman and Jim Lutz and Marina Pacini and David McCarthy

Reese Studio, American
MRS. J.O. PATTERSON, June 22, 1957
Silver gelatin print
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Purchase; funds provided by Sara and Kevin Adams, Deupree Family Foundation, Henry and Lynne Turley, Kaywin Feldman and Jim Lutz and Marina Pacini and David McCarthy

American
FOOTE HOMES SCHOOL STUDENTS RETURNED, July 2, 1960
Silver gelatin print
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Purchase; funds provided by Sara and Kevin Adams, Deupree Family Foundation, Henry and Lynne Turley, Kaywin Feldman and Jim Lutz and Marina Pacini and David McCarthy

R. Earl Williams, American, 1920-1954
BISHOP J.O. PATTERSON, April 23, 1954
Silver gelatin print
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Purchase; funds provided by Sara and Kevin Adams, Deupree Family Foundation, Henry and Lynne Turley, Kaywin Feldman and Jim Lutz and Marina Pacini and David McCarthy

Irving C. Smith, American
FAMOUS PARISIAN MODEL, March 11, 1956
Silver gelatin print
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Purchase; funds provided by Sara and Kevin Adams, Deupree Family Foundation, Henry and Lynne Turley, Kaywin Feldman and Jim Lutz and Marina Pacini and David McCarthy