Looking at Appalachia

Crossville Raceway, Cumberland County, Tennessee. Tamara Reynolds. May 31, 2014.

An ambitious photography exhibition intending to dispel stereotypical images of Appalachia will be on display at the Blue Ridge Business Development Center in Sparta, Alleghany County, from Sept. 19 to Oct. 26.   

Sawmills, Caldwell County, North Carolina. Mike Baker. August 17, 2014.

“Looking at Appalachia” was the brainchild of photographer, Raleigh resident and U.S. Army veteran Roger May. Last year he posted a call on Instagram for professional and amateur photographers to submit pictures that reveal life in the 13-state mountain region known as Appalachia, from western New York to Mississippi. To mark the 50th anniversary of the so-called “War on Poverty,” May hopes to turn around the images of the 1960s that showed impoverished, low-down, backwoods life in the Appalachian Mountains.

The juried images amount to about 300 for its website and 75 for the exhibition. They range from scenics to portraits. After Sparta, the show goes to Michigan, Virginia and West Virginia. Eventually the pictures will be archived at Duke University.

The show in Sparta is supported by a partnership that includes Alleghany Center of Wilkes Community College, Alleghany County Chamber of Commerce, Grassroots Arts Project of the Arts Guild of Alleghany County, Alleghany County Library, and the Blue Ridge Business Development Center.