Jackson Fine Art is thrilled to present two solo exhibitions by Mona Kuhn

and William Christenberry. The tie that binds these two seemingly foreign bodies

of work is one of deep nostalgia for moments past and the preservation

of memory around place.

 

In Working from Memory, William Christenberry revisits rural Hale

county Alabama, where he spent much of his childhood, as well as the

surrounding counties to document the ever-changing face of the south. These

yearly trips serve as a means to resurrect emotion through the places that

captivate him, particularly warped houses, structures, and historical relics.

Although he does not photograph people, the human touch is ever-present in his

subject matter of vernacular architecture and in the decay itself—each

photograph telling epic tales of what once was. Christenberry strongly identifies

with the need to preserve and pass things on through art. He writes, “I think that

oftentimes art can make an outsider look back on something he has never been

pat of, and make him feel like he has always been part of it.” Working from

Memory is Christenberry’s first book devoted to written storytelling, a popular

southern tradition of remembering, acknowledging, and paying homage to

experience.