Celebrate 30 years of the OA.

With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.

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A Way Home

Artist: Jay Simple

Project: Exodus Home

Description: In his series Exodus Home, photographer Jay Simple explores ideas surrounding migration and the definition of home through self-portraiture, archival photographs, and sculptural installations. Set primarily in Prince Edward County, Virginia, the project captures spaces that were utilized throughout the Great Migration from 1916-1970. “To migrate back to the places that one’s ancestors fled is to question how we understand our personal narratives of belonging and home, past and present, and the memory that finds itself ingrained in the landscape we inhabit,” Simple writes in his artist’s statement. Exodus Home uses a range of images “to enable space to question the cycles of violence and migration, and to see how building a new home in the rubble or memory of the past connects personal or local experiences to global phenomena.”

 


Eyes on the South&\#xA0;is curated by&\#xA0;Jeff Rich. The weekly series features selections of current work from Southern artists, or artists whose photography concerns the South. To submit your work to the series, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..





Jay Simple

Jay Simple is a visual artist who resides in Pamplin, VA. He is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Photography at Longwood University and a Lecturer of Film and Photography at Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds a BFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago, a MLA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a MFA in Photography from RISD.