Myra Greene is an Honorary Southern Photographer

Myra Greene is not, technically, a Southerner. She was born in New York City and now lives and works in Chicago. She was formed as a photographer in St Louis and New Mexico.

Her concerns as a photographer are, however, among the perennial concerns of Southern artists -- the body, memory, race, and the absorption and transmission of culture.

These concerns are fully present in a remarkable portfolio Some of Her Best Friends are White, featured today in the LENS blog of the New York Times.

Greene also has a Kickstarter Project going on, here, to support publication of this portfolio. I've signed on and encourage you to do so as well.

The images in Her Best Friends are companion pieces to images in another portfolio of Greene's work, Character Recognition, a series of self portraits that raise questions about what it is that we make of what we see when we see another person, in our culture, and in the context of our history.

I think these are remarkably composed, haunting images that have special relevance for us in the South.

I think Myra Greene should be regarded as an Honorary Southern Photographer.