PSNWA Presents: Our Natural State – Discussion and Opening

PSNWA Presents: “Our Natural State” Exhibit of Photography, July 10 – August 17 at Art Center of the Ozarks, Springdale Arkansas. Discussion and opening on July 31^st at 7:00 PM.

How do you define the mindset, culture and values of Arkansans? “Our Natural State” exhibit seeks to answer this question by exploring the historical and contemporary landscape of Arkansas residents – from recent transplants to generational Ozark families.

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Take for example a famous Arkansas photographer, who is also one of the state’s most curious personalities – Mike Disfarmer, born Mike Meyer. Changing his name to remove any association to farming and his family, Disfarmer became known as one of the world’s greatest portrait photographers. From Heber Springs, the photographer set off an international firestorm upon discovery of his work, posthumously. His images speak volumes about the social fabric of Arkansans, and the values they hold dear.

Photographers working decades after Disfarmer: Beverly Conley, Ron Evans, Don House, Jim Simmons, and Geoff Winningham – similarly trace traditions to life in the Ozarks. While Maxine Payne captures present day residents with an uncommon humanity, elevating rural people to heroic stature.

By contrast Rebecca Drolen focuses on “transplants”, those who have come to Arkansas to live. Likewise, Donna Pinckley chooses diversity and inclusion as her subject, observing resident reactions to interracial couples. Intolerance is too often a response to alternative lifestyle.

And the desire to escape responsibilities, to “head to the hills” is a mindset skillfully portrayed by Matthew Genitempo and Alec Soth. The exhibit will contain images from Genitempo’s upcoming book, “Jasper”. Similarly, Soth is an accomplished author, and one of the most celebrated artists today with images in many major museums.

Jim Dow and Tim Hursley capture places which people inhabit, yet these environments are temporarily vacant – sometimes permanently.  Sabine Schmidt creates constructed houses, and then photographs them as a metaphor for her Arkansas home. And the concept of “place” is the subject of Gary Cawood and Kris Johnson, who often photograph at night.

One of the most fascinating depictions of social values and mindset is by Margaret LeJeune, who’s “Modern Day Diana” reverses roles in a classic Ozark motive, hunting.

In “Our Natural State” is an exhibit of nearly 80 images to convey the state’s vortex of transitioning values, told from the point of view of the artist 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. As described by Matthew Genitempo, “I made my way through the capricious woods of the Ozarks, and the deeper I went, the closer I came to this spot…a spot equidistant from heaven and hell…I am indebted to this land and its people for letting me make this discovery.”

The photographers curated for the exhibit are among the best to ever photograph in the Natural State. Please join us and add to the discussion on the people of Arkansas. Bring your own definitions and help discover the spot where mindset, culture and values begin to define the experience of being an Arkansan.

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List of artists:

• Gary Cawood
• Beverly Conley
• Mike Disfarmer (exhibition prints from the Disfarmer Project)
• Jim Dow
• Rebecca Drolen
• Ron Evans
• Matthew Genitempo
• Don House
• Tim Hursley
• Kris Johnson
• Margaret LeJeune
• Maxine Payne
• Donna Pinckley
• Sabine Schmidt
• Jim Simmons (images on loan from Shiloh Museum)
• Alec Soth (images on loan from Steve LaFontaine)
• Geoff Winningham (images on loan from Special Collections, University of Arkansas)