From sepia-toned Civil War battlefields to vibrant snapshots of modern Southern life, a new exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts offers a sweeping look at nearly two centuries of photography in the American South.

“A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845,” is the first major exhibition of Southern photography in over 25 years. The exhibition, which opens Oct. 5, spans more than 175 years of photography across the American South, showcasing works from regions such as Maryland, Florida, Arkansas and Texas. It showcases a broad range of evocative images capturing everyday life, places and the South’s pivotal role in shaping American history and identity. The exhibition also highlights the South’s profound influence on the development of photography.

The exhibition features works by more than 120 photographers, including William Eggleston, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Sally Mann, Gordon Parks and Carrie Mae Weems, offering a comprehensive look at the diverse perspectives that have shaped Southern photography.

“A Long Arc,” is organized by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and co-curated by Gregory Harris, the Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art, and Sarah Kennel, the Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography and Director of the Raysor Center for Works on Paper at VMFA. 

“A Long Arc reckons with the region’s fraught history, American identity, and culture at large, asking us to consider the history of American photography with the South as its focal point,” Kennel said. “The exhibition examines the ways that photographers from the 19th century to the present have articulated the distinct and evolving character of the South’s people, landscape, and culture.”

More than 180 works of historical and contemporary photography are featured in the exhibition, including many from VMFA’s permanent collection. Organized chronologically, the exhibition opens with photographs from 1845 to 1865, including those by Alexander Gardner and George Barnard, which document the American Civil War and set visual standards for representing national identity and trauma. Post-war images depict the South’s incomplete Reconstruction and growing social divisions, while photographs from the 1930s by Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and others raised national awareness of racial and social inequities.

The period from 1945 to 1970 highlights the tension between America’s postwar optimism and the realities of segregation, with works by Robert Frank, Clarence John Laughlin and others exposing economic and racial dissonance. Photographs from the civil rights movement by Bruce Davidson, Danny Lyon, and others documented the nation’s struggle for justice.

From the 1970s onward, photographers such as Sally Mann and William Eggleston created introspective works that reflect on the South’s history and cultural mythologies. The exhibition concludes with contemporary works from artists such as Richard Misrach and RaMell Ross, exploring themes of Southern history, economic inequality and shifting cultural identities.

The VMFA also will offer a variety of public programs related to A Long Arc, including lectures, photography workshops and film screenings.

Kennel will give an opening talk Oct. 10. A full schedule of exhibition-related events and programs can be found at VMFA.museum. The exhibition continues through Jan. 26, 2025.