Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A. in Southern Studies
Department
Southern Studies
First Advisor
Annette Trefzer
Second Advisor
Kathryn McKee
Third Advisor
Kris Belden-Adams
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
In 1976, Memphis, Tennessee, photographer, William Eggleston, had his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. This exhibition was the first dedicated to a single photographer working in color. While Eggleston’s use of color was groundbreaking, his depictions of contemporary southern life were similarly exceptional. Working against previous photographic representations of the South, Eggleston presented a region succumbing to national homogenization through land development, commercialization, and suburbanization. Eggleston’s monograph resulting from his debut exhibition at MoMA, William Eggleston’s Guide, tells the story of this changing region, from the outdoor spaces that were once agriculturally rooted, to the private, intimate spaces of the rural South. He juxtaposes these types of images with photographs depicting development and abuse on once agrarian soil. By doing this, William Eggleston’s Guide encouraged viewers in 1976, and still today, to reevaluate our interactions with the environments around us.
Recommended Citation
Malloy, Amanda Katherine, "William Eggleston's Guide To The Suburban South" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 890.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/890