In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • “The Necessity of a Show Like This”Southern Accent in Conversation
  • Trevor Schoonmaker (bio), Stacy Lynn Waddell (bio), and Jeff Whetstone (bio)

Ed. Note: Southern Accent: Seeking the American South in Contemporary Art was co- curated by Trevor Schoonmaker (Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina) and Miranda Lash (Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky). Before the show opened in September, we sat down with Schoonmaker and artists Stacy Lynn Waddell and Jeff Whetstone, both featured in the exhibition.1


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Amy Sherald, High Yella Masterpiece: We Ain’t No Cotton Pickin’ Negroes, 2011. Oil on canvas; 59 × 69 inches (149.86 × 175.26 cm).

All images courtesy of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

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we have no idea what it truLy means to be southern

Stacy Lynn Waddell:

I am very interested in the necessity of a show like this and what brought all this to bear for you and Miranda [Lash].

Trevor Schoonmaker:

Miranda and I started talking about it about five years ago, and I started thinking about it, in earnest, when I moved from New York back to North Carolina. So, ten years ago, but not in any serious way, just moving from the center of the U.S. art world—contemporary art world—to Durham, North Carolina, and [asking] what does that mean, how can you be an active participant in Durham? But also thinking, “What does it mean to be southern?”

I think at the show’s heart there’s an attempt to complicate the notion of what it means to be “southern.” As you guys know, as well or better than I do, [it’s] generally perpetuated as this monolithic, sort of, singular voice as if there’s only one southern culture when it’s this very multi- faceted place. That’s the crux of why we wanted to first tackle it. But why do it in a contemporary art exhibition when it’s been done so well [in] documentary studies, literature, music, film, so on? [W]e’re three southerners sitting here who participate in the larger national/international discussion, but how hard has it been for us to get a foothold, how hard is it to get recognition in Durham, North Carolina, in the national dialogue? How hard is it for the South to be accepted, mentioned, or recognized? I think trying to unpack the canon a little bit to allow some more room, to create a little bit more room and open it up—I think those are the two major reasons.

Jeff Whetstone:

I think as artists, too—and Stacy can attest to that because we’ve talked about this a lot—there’s been very little press about art in our region. As professional artists we read the journals, we want to read about somebody’s show—what did this critic say about this show? [But] it’s very hard to find a consistent voice about art happenings in the South. We kind of had it in [the IndyWeek] in Durham—there was always a visual arts column—but compared to New York, you know, there’s forty different press outlets about art that come out monthly, so I think that . . . those press outlets help the conversation along, and I think that . . . seems to be missing historically in a way, right?

SLW:

I think so. I’m interested in that and also this idea of having to be a journeyman as an artist, especially if you are from here. There are vestiges of that journey sort of narrative in the exhibition. I’m wondering if you thought about that relative to the artist “situation” that chooses to be here—the southern artist that is southern, but also is located and creates a practice here?

TS:

[I]f you look at film and literature and music, there [are] all these stories about the southern traveler—people leaving and coming home. It’s part of my [End Page 64] story. It’s not everyone’s narrative, but I think it’s a big part—that sense of going out, exploring the world, [and] bringing something back. I...

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