Memphis is rife with iconic imagery, from Graceland to the Lorraine Motel, but with “This Must Be the Place,” the Dixon‘s latest foray into the world of photography, artists explore their unique relationships to the Mid-South through less conventional means.
The works consider the interconnection of one’s developing identity with their environment. The diverse mix of wholly captivating images depict the different experience of each artist through nature, popular culture, and psychology, to offer an entirely new understanding of what our town can represent.
- Tommy Kha
- Wetlands, Frayser
Tommy Kha had his first solo show at Five in One Memphis in October 2008, and has since been exhibited in galleries across the U.S. and China. Kha received his BFA in Photography from Memphis College of Art, where he was awarded the Jessie and Dolph Smith Emeritus Award, and is currently a graduate photography student at Yale University’s School of Art.
Michael Darough received a BFA in photography from Arizona State University, and then came to the University of Memphis for his MFA in both photography and printmaking. Darough’s work has evolved to focus on storytelling, creating imagery to become a visual narrative whether composing a structured scene or documenting aspects of daily life.
- Frances Berry
- Caster Garner
Frances Berry received her BFA in photography and digital media from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. After graduation, Berry started working as a freelance graphic designer and photographer, and now calls Memphis home.
Jordan Hood bases her work on her childhood growing up in the Mississippi Delta, directly questioning the rigid expectations of the traditional, conservative, southern society she was born into. Hood received a BFA in photography from the Memphis College of Art and now lives and works here.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Ian Lemmonds moved to Arkansas with his family at the age of 12, attended college in Louisiana, and then lived in Seattle. After seeing the movie, Mystery Train, he came to live in Memphis and has remained ever since with his wife and two daughters.
- Anna Hollis
- Hybrid 1
Anna Hollis explores alternate realities and fantasy through her photographs using images, objects, and people from her past presented in an unnatural way, to communicate a distorted perception and extraordinary qualities. Hollis received a BFA in photography from the Memphis College of Art in 2011.
Born and raised in Shanghai, Yijun Liao is a fine art photographer who currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. Liao originally came to Memphis in 2005, knowing nothing of what the city would be like in her very first journey outside of China, and lived here for three and a half years. “I now think that I was super lucky in choosing Memphis as my destination among a long list of unfamiliar American city names. Memphis has a unique beauty that is untouched by time,” Liao says of her experience.
Meet the artists tonight at the opening reception for “This Must Be the Place – Contemporary Photography in Memphis” at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. The Stax Music Academy Band will perform classic soul and R&B straight from Memphis during the event, which is open to the public with free admission, a cash bar, and complimentary hors d’oeuvres.
