Artist Statement

In East Tennessee

These photographs were made in the eastern third of Tennessee. East Tennessee is very different from the rest of the state, it is culturally and geographically part of Appalachia. Here modern life and the traditions of the early Scottish and Irish settlers often intertwine. Reality and irony are everywhere we look. Children play in the backyard and there is a castle down the road. A bluegrass band plays the tunes of early ancestors. Evangelicals speak of heaven and hell on street corners. They want to save our souls because the reapers are coming and there will be a feast with the beasts. The local chiropractor wants to fix our bodies and advertises this with an enormous spine on display. Angels are everywhere and the Waffle House stands like a beacon on a hill. This is East Tennessee and the people who live here wouldn’t have it any other way.