Principal Juror - Carrie Przybilla, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

Juror's Comments - The unique history of the American South has created a region as thick with legends as it is with kudzu. The renowned oral traditions of this formerly agrarian culture have provided a rich ground in which generation after generation of writers have cultivated their tales. Familiarity with the wounded souls of Tennessee Williams’ plays, the eccentrics that populate William Faulkner’s stories, and the dignified, wise women of Maya Angelou’s poetry and prose (not to mention the histrionic characters in Gone with the Wind), have reinforced a stereotypical view of ”The South” far beyond the Mason-Dixon Line.

Despite the grain of truth in any myth or stereotype, the reality of the South today is one of extraordinary change and rapid growth. The phenomenal increase in the region’s population during recent decades is due not to births, but to transplants: multi-national corporations that have relocated their headquarters and employees to “right to work” states; immigrants seeking opportunities in a burgeoning economy; retirees who want relief from cold winters and income taxes. The mythology of the South is slowly assimilating a wealth of new influences, but by nature these tales are slow to change.

Visual stereotypes change even more slowly. Tourists regularly meet with disappointment when they discover Atlanta is a city of modern skyscrapers rather than charming manors fronted by white columns. The material culture typical of the “Old South” was that of an agrarian society and largely utilitarian. Much was destroyed by the Civil War, and Recon-struction did almost exactly the opposite. With desegregation, the last remnant of nineteenth-century culture finally lost its hold on the South. Instead of tradition, the citizenry wholeheartedly embraced “the future.” Fueled by rapid economic growth, the old was frequently razed—in some cases, the same site may have been home to several different buildings in the span of just two decades. The media plays a major role in this “future”: the South is home to several major media outlets, most prominently CNN. Headquartered in Atlanta (also, not coincidentally, home to the world’s busiest airport), this source for “news from around the world in thirty minutes” has played a major part in homogenizing cultures. Meetings of heads-of-state, corporate mergers, and publicity stunts by rock stars are all reported with alacrity and replayed several times before being replaced by the next news cycle. Thus, Mel Gibson’s latest movie is the talk of Milan—Italy and Minnesota; the same fashions are worn in The Republic of Georgia and the state of Georgia; and the whole world watches in horror as the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers are destroyed by terrorists in airplanes. The power of this imagery would be hard to overestimate. Readily available at any time, frequently repeated, and not wholly dependent upon language (although not entirely visual), television is our global village.

This has affected the visual arts far more profoundly than other art forms. Music, literature, dance, or theater must unfold over time. Literature and theater are additionally constrained because of language. But visual imagery can be grasped almost immediately through television or printed reproductions, and quickly relayed to almost anyone who is interested. Assimilation and adaptation naturally follow. Recently, discussions of international artistic trends and “festivalism” in art journals have appeared. In such an environment, does it make any sense to talk about “Southern art?” As the artists included in this survey clearly demonstrate, any attempt to identify what it might be proves futile. The sources and influences at play are so diverse, a unifying “style” is difficult to perceive, let alone articulate. Their peers and fellow travelers are everywhere, yet each of these artists was selected because of the singularity of his or her work, a true personal vision. Should you never encounter any of them again, this authenticity alone is of lasting value. But I suspect you will meet several of them again, and far from home.