Southern Literary Trail - Exposures and Reflections: The Curator's Comments by Jacob Laurence

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I believe it will always be in our roots, as Southerners, don't you? A sense of the place. Even if you move around, you know where you have your base.
Eudora Welty

The landmark traveling exhibit, Eudora Welty, Exposures and Reflections, would have neither a base nor a sense of place without the dedication and creative energies of the Museum of Mobile, its curator Jacob Laurence and Museum Director David Alsobrook. The Southern Literary Trail thanks them in addition to the Welty House in Jackson, the Eudora Welty Foundation, Humanities Adviser John Hafner and Pearl McHaney, a special consultant to the exhibit whose books include Eudora Welty as Photographer and Occasions: Selected Writings by Eudora Welty.

On this page, the exhibit's curator Jacob Laurence provides insights and comments about three photographs of Eudora Welty's that he has selected for observation.

A Woman of the Thirties taken by Eudora Welty

Tomato-packers Recess taken by Eudora Welty

A Woman of the Thirties
Photo by Welty

"This image is the one that really began the creative process of developing the exhibit. She has the look of someone who has not given up, despite a situation that must have been nearly impossible to live through. I read The Worn Path and could think only of this lady as the one with the numberless branching wrinkles...as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead..."

Tomato-packers' Recess
Photo by Welty

"Welty contended that her photographs and her written catalogue had no real connection. I feel there is an alignment, demonstrated by this picture and her prose that says, Let the packers rest, if only for a moment...and one can play the guitar. This project became more profound for me when I decided the exhibit must analyze Welty's photographs and her writing to find more alignments."

Boy With His Kite
Photo by Welty

"This image speaks to me of childhood joy and innocence. In the photo, Welty exquisitely conveys her own description, the unknown realm of delight. The picture depicts Welty's natural ability to capture the essence of her subjects in a single frozen moment."

All quoted comments are provided by Jacob Laurence, Curator for The Museum of Mobile.

> View Exposures and Reflections: Exhibit Info and History
> View Exposures and Reflections: Host Museums and Dates
> View Jackson: Eudora Welty, Richard Wright and Margaret W. Alexander

All photographs are printed by permission of Eudora Welty, LLC, and the Eudora Welty Collection, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.