© William Ferris

The South in Color

Commercial Row at Margaret Mitchell House

Featuring work by: William Ferris

For his first exhibition of color photography, folklorist William Ferris, a University of North Carolina history professor and former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, focuses on quilt makers, roadside vendors, and other Southerners going about their daily lives. “Each person has a deep connection to the place in which she or he lives,” the photographer explains, “and they share intimate ties to family and friends in those places.” Ferris’ photographs in The South in Color, much like his highly praised 2016 book of the same name, include his earliest images, from the family farm where he grew up outside Vicksburg, Mississippi. That’s appropriate, as the photographer treats the friends, family and relative strangers before his lens with honesty and compassion, as if they are all members of his extended family.

For more information on the exhibition or talk, please visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com. Also, check out the public visual archive of Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center, some 20,000 photographs dating to the 1860s, at album.atlantahistorycenter.com.

Exhibition Sep 16 - Nov 26

Artist's Talk Oct 10 7pm


Commercial Row at Margaret Mitchell House

979 Crescent Avenue N.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30309
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(404) 249-7015

Mon–Sat: 10am-5:30pm
Sun: 12-5:30pm