Farnell & Powell on a Sunday Drive on One One Thousand

Atlanta-based photographers Cynthia Farnell and Dan Powell show work from their Sunday Drive series of images made on the rural back roads of South Carolina and Georgia, on One One Thousand, the New Orleans-based webzine of Southern photography. 

In these images, Farnell and Powell record their discovery of the rural or small-town South, which they experience as "a parallel universe, sealed off from the suburbanization and development that is happening along the major interstates" . . . a "quiet" place that "makes you aware of yourself in a way that can be uncomfortable."

Yes, aspects of the small-town and rural South can seem odd, arresting, even disturbing on first discovery.  To a lot of us, the world depicted in these images will look a lot like home. And, of course, home can feel pretty strange as well. Wasn't it Thomas Wolfe, a native of Asheville, NC, who claimed you can't go home again.

Which makes one wonder where people are living, and how, if they live in their native place, or region. But, in any case, these images, for Farnell and Powell,  are "driven by curiosity . . . small discoveries, places and things that we have stumbled upon by accident. Something about them has caught our attention, called to us to stop and look."

Farnell and Powell are discovering the South after having been educated in photography at places like  Dartmouth, and Rhode Island, and New York City.

I say, welcome to the South, folks. It will be interesting to see how your perceptions change as you get to know us better.