In 2013 I took a trip with Carter to rural Virginia, where he grew up. It was autumn and the light was beautiful that time of year. I suppose for Carter it was a trip down memory lane. For me a new landscape to discover with my camera. The rural area around Jettersvile was quiet and sleepy. But also, old and historic. Everywhere you spit was a civil war battlefield memorial. Old houses in need of repair dotted the landscape. It made me think of the great photographs of the Depression by FSA photographers like Walker Evans. It seemed nothing had changed I found myself channeling Bill Christenberry, an artist I had known from my DC days. He was from Alabama and much of his work focused on area where he grew up. Looking at old, dilapidated structures, covered in kudzu. But looking at them straight on, to almost turn them into stage sets rather than 3 dimensional architectural forms. In Farmville there is a little college, now Longwood University. I almost took got a teaching job there right after grad school. What a life changing decision that would have been. I think I like visiting the south more that I would have liked living there. Another little visual kept popping into my head on that trip. The television show, “The Waltons”. Good night, John Boy. In 2015 this work was exhibited at the Seattle Art Museum along with my Rome work. I surprise Carter by not telling him that was my plan. At the opening he was quite pleased to see the work and spent most of the evening engrossed with story telling about the images and his life there. It seems people were more interested in what he had to say about my work then I did.
