Thursday, October 4 at 6PM, FRANK hosted The Documentary Project, a Salon with Vincent Joos, Jessica Kennedy, Christopher Sims, and Jeremy Lange. Through the evening, the four speakers shared their documentary work exploring, as Bryce Lankard noted, “themes unseen.”
Jessica Kennedy, UNC undergraduate student and grant recipient, began the night with her presentation on “The Shifting Face of Agriculture in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.” Kennedy’s project documents her hometown and the new direction farmers have been taking within the past few years there. Her photographs explore a new approach at sustainability, seen in Half Hippie Farm’s promotion of hand-picking produce and Boone’s community garden.
Christopher Sims, instructor at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and represented photographer at Ann Stewart Fine Art, spoke about his work, “Theater of War: The Pretend Villages of Iraq and Afghanistan.” Through his photographs and film, Sims investigates life on the military base and the military’s use of fake villages. His images capture the foreign environments of conflict simulated for training and the strong impact they have on the troops.
Vincent Joos, UNC Graduate student and grant recipient, continued next, speaking about his project “Little Haiti, Mount Olive, North Carolina.” Joos’ work documents the development of a Haitian community in Mount Olive, North Caorlina. After settling into the community, Joos was able to photograph the everyday life of the Haitian immigrant and capture the tight-knit sense of community and family that is alive there.
Following Joos, Jeremy Lange, published, award-winning, and internationally exhibited Independent Weekly staff photographer, spoke. Jeremy Lange’s works focus on the unseen side of military culture. In a four year series, Lange documented the funerals of military soldiers and the sensitive environment of their return. His more recent work, “The Farmer Veteran” explores the meditative role farming plays in the life of a military veteran.
The evening ended with a short reception.
FRANK: In Focus 