Exhibit brings world of the blues to life at museum
Ann Sanner
Staff writer
Jerry Galvin
The Daily Illini
Pianist Ariyo (who would not give his last name) plays Friday evening at the Krannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign, with his Chicago-based band Billy Branch and the Sons of the Blues. |
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People weren't staring silently at Krannert Art Museum's latest exhibit. Instead, they bobbed, swayed, jived and tapped their feet to the sounds and scenes of the South.
"Visualizing the Blues: Images of the American South, 1862-1999," opened Friday evening, showcasing more than 100 photographs of life in the Mississippi Delta region. A live blues band was on hand to provide a soundtrack for the pictures.
"The pictures are better with the music," said Christine Hammer, junior in LAS. "It adds to the atmosphere. Otherwise, it would just be quiet."
The exhibit, ranging from shots of the Ku Klux Klan to a Civil Rights era arrest, boasts the work of more than 65 photographers. The photographs are divided into themes such as "Religion, Spirituality and the Occult" and "In the Country, At Home, Downtown."
"When you listen to the blues, you hear them talk about relationships, the good times and the bad times ... life in its complexity," said Michael Conner, curator of collections for the museum.
The music came from Chicago's Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues. Like the music, the photos deal with the difficulty and reality of the age, Conner said.
He said the photos and the music are like "hot dogs and mustard. They belong together."
"(Music) helps you approach these photos positively. You can begin to understand them in their environmental and cultural context," Conner said.
Pointing to a picture of an unemployed man, Conner said everyone can relate to the scenes in the photos.
The music overpowered conversation as Brendan Finucane, senior in FAA, stood glancing at a photo of people eating in a restaurant. Finucane said the music provided "a different experience. You get a sense of what the pictures are trying to convey."
Along with themes of drinking, love and the landscape, photos also deal with the Civil War and death. The captions beside some photographs say the pictures act as "harbingers of change against social injustice."
The captions also carried the bylines of famous photographers of the day. Margaret Bourke-White, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and even writer Eudora Welty all were renowned for their work during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Graduate student Keyanna Byers, who came to the University from North Carolina, said the exhibit struck a chord with her, and not just because of the music.
"It reminds me of home," she said.
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