Eggleston Review
William Eggleston’s Mississippi
By: Kathryn Hathorne
I was recently afforded an opportunity by The University of Mississippi Museum to experience the work of William Eggleston through an exhibit featuring 36 of Eggleston’s color and black and white photographs. Longtime friend of Eggleston, William (Bill) Ferris donated the collection. The University of Mississippi Museum opened the William Eggleston exhibit to the public on September 13th and will showcase Eggleston’s work until February 18th, 2017. Renowned novelist Megan Abbott curated the collection. As the curator, she condensed a larger collection of Eggleston photographs into the 36 displayed photographs. Her connection to Eggleston is rooted in Oxford, as she was the 2013–14 John and Renee Grisham writer in residence. Those who see the Eggleston exhibit are able to experience the story Abbott frames using pieces of Eggleston’s art.
The museum creates a very intimate and personal experience for anyone interacting with Eggleston’s pieces. In stark contrast of the bright museum lobby, the Eggleston exhibit is placed in a more private and warmly lit space that allows museum-goers to be fully submerged in the bright, entrancing, and sometimes sad work of William Eggleston.
Many of the photographs spoke to me, but two photos were particularly loud. I grew up an hour south of Memphis, in Bruce, Miss. Many of Eggleston’s photographs could have been taken in my hometown. Much of the subject matter was very familiar to me and felt like home. One Untitled photograph taken in 1983 featured an older model truck with a messy truck bed taken in Waterford, Miss. The contents of the truck bed included a spare tire, Coca-Cola cans, cornhusks, and other various materials. This picture looked like the back of a truck I had spent many summer days in. Although a person is not featured in this particular photograph I could not help but envision the man who would have driven this particular truck. I imagined him to be someone very much like my granddad who set me on the tailgate of his truck so many sunny days. Sometimes thinking about the past can be a melancholy experience and melancholy is a very reoccurring theme connecting many of the pieces featured in this particular exhibit.
As with all the pictures, when you are exposed to these snapshots of time you cannot help but imagine Eggleston himself taking these pictures and his thought process behind each one. What was happening outside of the frame? One more photograph was especially loud while I stood and soaked-in the image. The image is untitled but referred to as “Palmer’s Grocery.” Eggleston took this photograph in 1983 in Waterford, Miss. The truck from the previously mentioned photograph is seen in this photo in its entirety. I wondered if this photograph was taken first or the close-up of the truck bed first. There is a man pictured walking away from another truck also featured in the photograph. This “Palmer’s Grocery” featured in this photograph looked to be a gathering place for people in the community of Waterford, Miss. I found it interesting to think about how numerous aspects of life have changed, especially pertaining to the sharing of information, compared to when this picture was taken and the present. My generation in particular has never had a central physical location that we physically travel to in order to be informed of current local events. We have always had technology that allowed us to be connected to those around us without actually being physically present. The generation of the man pictured in this photograph and the man who owned the blue truck lived a very different life than I do, but with much of the same surroundings that characterize rural Mississippi.
The exhibit is open to the public. Being able to interact with the work of William Eggleston in person will be a difference for everyone. I encourage anyone to take the opportunity to see the world around him or her through the photography of William Eggleston as presented by the University of Mississippi Museum.
Untitled, 1983
William Eggleston
University of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses
Untitled, 1983
William Eggleston
University of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses