COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA.- The Columbia Museum of Art presents "Visualizing the Blues: Images of the American South, 1862-1999," on view through May 26, 2002. This exhibition spans the history of photography from The Civil War to contemporary times. It articulates the genesis and varied inspirations of a musical form through the faculty of vision and poses questions about the interplay between sight and sound. Eudora Welty, Gordon Parks, Edward Weston, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Sally Mann and Henri Cartier-Bresson are among the 63 photographers featured in the exhibition.



Through the photographers' eyes it is possible to understand many of the cultural characteristics of the South that contribute to the creation of blues music - a particular energy, a vibrant and unique color and design sensibility, inventiveness in the face of deprivation, profound spirituality, a tolerance for eccentricity, a oneness with the landscape of the Delta, the sense that both joy and sorrow are considered high moments in life.