This title was digitized by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA).
About Contemporary art/southeast. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1977-1980 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1980)
I I Art Photography: The Southern View (continued) ignored for many years and its acceptance as a recog nized art 'form was achieved grudgingly from the other arts. Many years of thankless work was done by photographers, historians, and curators of photo graphy until it finally gained recognition as an art medium of its own. This type of popularity has been hard-worked for, and is here to stay.” Along with this acceptance of photography as an art also comes the increase in collectors and sales. According to Hammon, “photography is a means for collectors to enter the market without having the millions of dollars required to purchase the other forms of art. Private collecting has exploded. “This boom in popularity," Hammon continued, “means that at least a few of the better-known photo graphers can now cam a living practicing their art. Print sales are not large enough to support a large number of photographers, but this is also true in the other arts. The gathering acceptance of photography as fine art docs mean, however, that a tiny few will be able to do so. It is not a huge opportunity, but a few can expect traditional returns for their work." On the question of photography in the South, Hammon recognizes no difference which can be attributed to a regional tradition. “There is a tradition of photography in the South,” Hammon said, “but it is not by Southerners.” The work of WPA, Clarence John Laughlin and E.J. Bellocq, are examples of photography in the South, but they do not represent a regional tradition. However, a regional identity may now be developing because there is more com munication taking place between photographers, resulting in more cohesive styles. “If there is a southern symbolism,” Hammon explains, “I do not know what it would be. Shows have been done which grouped photographs by region, but I wouldn’t do one. I would have to do a lot more thinking to do it intelligently. It is an area which requires much more research.” “The shows which have been done have grouped photographs by their subject matter, for example, those which use the Southern mansions or other Southern symbols as a background,” Hammon said. “If you argue that this is Southern symbolism, by the same token, you must also argue that the Yoscmite photographs by Ansel Adams are a Yoscmite symbo lism. Rather than this, these photographs must be seen as pictures which could only have been taken at Yoscmite because it is the only place where the subject matter happens to exist. The same distinction must be drawn in the South ” Hammon said. Miami “The status of photography in the South when compared with other regions of the country can be demonstrated by a count of the museums and galler ies that show photographs, or by a tally of the grant money which goes to photographers in the different areas,” said William Maguire, assistant professor, Visual Arts/Photography, Florida International University. “The result of such a tally would be both predictable and meaningless. “The real status of photography, however, is in the hands of the individuals who practice the medium successfully, and there are few such individuals among those who own cameras. Interest in photo graphy is still rising everywhere, Maguire said, “but this is again meaningless. One would hope that the quality of good work would also increase, but this might not be so. “This is not to be snobbish," Maguire explained, “but rather to acknowledge that still photography is “Sweet Watercreek." ®1974. 14
