Artist: Ethan Tate

Project: Untitled

Description: Ethan Tate’s photographs of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, reflect a complicated homecoming; Tate had lived in the community when he was young and wasn’t entirely happy to return as an adult. He took long drives through the Delta as a way of re-acclimating to the place and, along the way, taught himself to use a 4x5 view camera. The images he produced arose out of an interest in interventionist photography that blurs “the lines between staged, editorialized images and traditional photojournalism,” coupled with an investment in the way rural America “has suffered disproportionately” under the pressures of capitalism: “its resources stripped bare and its people disenfranchised.” The landscapes, as they’re captured, seem at once “battered” and in motion, Tate’s fingerprint on the photographs mirroring the cumulative impact of humanity on the land.

Eyes on the South is curated by 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..