William Christenberry

From my review of “William Christenberry Photographs, 1961-2005” at MassArt:

Like a just-the-facts-m'am surveyor, the Washington (DC) photographer catalogues tumbledown homes and barns and churches of his native Alabama threatened by creeping kudzu, with nary a person in sight. The majestic rot, amplified by period nostalgia (love those old cars, shacks, and soda signs), gives a melancholy romanticism to his images, but the soul is in his Southern Gothic subjects, not in his compositions.

Read the rest here.

“William Christenberry Photographs, 1961-2005,” MassArt, 621 Huntington Ave., Boston, Oct. 13 to Dec. 6, 2008.

Pictured from top to bottom: William Christenberry, "Old House, near Akron, Alabama," 1964; "Havana Methodist Church, Havana Alabama" 1976; “Grave, Hale County, Alabama,” 1987; “Christmas Star, near Akron, Alabama,” 2000.