Released June 6, 2005

HATTIESBURG – Opining about the South, author Jonathan Daniels wrote, "We Southerners are a mythological people, created half out of dream and half out of slander, who live in a still legendary land."

His words resonate throughout a photography exhibition showing at The University of Southern Mississippi Museum of Art through June 30.

Picture Show: Photographs from the Permanent Collection, Works from the Mississippi Museum of Art features works from the Mississippi Museum of Art's (MMA) extensive collection of some of the best work of contemporary Mississippi photographers.

"The 24 works in this special traveling exhibition represent significant contributions from many of the state's most prominent photographers," said René Paul Barilleaux, deputy director for programs for the MMA.

"Picture Show interprets distinct aspects of our Mississippi heritage, communicating to the viewer through images that are at once fresh and unique, yet altogether familiar," said Betsy Bradley, director of the MMA.

The exhibition explores diverse photographic styles, ranging from idealized

romanticism to unflinching documentary. Artistic compositions are as diverse as the styles, from the technical experiments of David Rae Morris in capturing light through screen porches to the clever "lawn-scape" prints of Nancy Ewing.

The contemporary works of Tom Rankin, Bill Aaron, Lea Barton and Roland Freeman chronicle the South with the discerning eye of a journalist, while photographers Franke Keating, Kendall Messick and Birney Imes interpret everyday life with intimacy and reverence.

Leslie Addison, George Yerger and Gloria Norris reminisce on their Southern heritage through romanticized vignettes.

The University of Southern Mississippi Museum of Art presents this exhibition as an affiliate member of the Mississippi Museum of Art. The Mississippi Museum of Art's Affiliate Network is funded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The museum is located in the Fine Arts Building on the Southern Miss campus. Admission is free and open to the public Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call (601) 266-5200.

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