Artist

Shelby Lee Adams (Primary)

Title

Southern Baptist

Date

1975

Century

20th century

Medium & Support

Gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions

Sheet: 14 x 11 in. , Image: 12 5/8 x 9 7/8 in.

Style

Documentary Photography

Object Type

Photographs

Credit Line

Gift of an anonymous donor

Accession Number

2003.03.91

Copyright

In Copyright
© Shelby Lee Adams

Adams’s Southern Baptist captures a bespectacled woman, prim in her upper body and hands yet relaxed in her outstretched and crossed legs. In his photographs, Adams depicts residents of Appalachia with a sense of pride—both his and his subjects’—that celebrates the oft-misunderstood layers of mountain culture and those who reside within it. Over the past 40 years, he has captured members of his family and community. The sitter for this image, taken near his parent’s birthplace in Beetree Fork, KY, is the artist’s great aunt, Dorthy. It is one of the earliest photographs Adams made with the 4×5 camera that would become his primary mode of image making.

Exhibition Title: Asheville Art Museum: An Introduction to the Collection
Label Date: 2021
Type: Catalogue Entry
Written by: Hilary Schroeder

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