The pictures are pretty bleak, but it’s the way South Main was back in the mid-’80s. It’s also the way Robert McGowan, former art critic for the Flyer, founder of the art journal Number:, founder of the late (and lamented) Memphis Center for Contemporary Art, and an artist (and writer) himself, saw it.
See for yourself in McGowan’s photo essay documenting South Main in the latest issue of Culture Grits: A Mouthful of Memphis, a biweekly online magazine, featuring essays, fiction, business news, food news, and a “soul series” on Memphis music.