Titus Heagins is Having an Exceptional 2013, and its only September . . . . .

Durham, NC-based photographer Titus Heagins is having an exceptional 2013, and its only early September.

Heagins, one of North Carolina's most distinguished photographers, just opened a major retrospective show of his work at  NC Central University's Museum of Art, on the campus of NC Central University, in Durham.

This show is up now through October 4th, 2013. 

The show, Witness, brings together a large body of Heagins' images, work that, as he says, "Explores the lives of people often thought of as the “Other.”

 
This retrospective exhibition features over 50 select images from early bodies of Heagins' work, including images from his portfolios Dark Hallowed Ground; One Faith, One God, One Baptism; and Rainbow over Havana.

Also included are photographs from more contemporary bodies of work, Rorschach, Durham Stories, and Haiti: Before the Earth Moved.

You can read more about this show in the newsletter of the NC Arts Council, here. 

In addition to this major solo show of recent work, Heagins is also featured in two group shows up now at the NC Museum of Art, in Raleigh, NC.

Heagins has images in the show Close to Home: A Decade of Acquisitions, an exhibition of work added recently to the collection of the Museum, up now through February 9th, 2014. 

Heagins also has images in the show Outsiders: Facing the Camera, a show drawing on work in the NCMA's permanent collection of photographs to explore the concept of otherness in human experience and in photography. 

This show is up now through January 26th, 2014. 

Heagins photographs in the documentary tradition, drawing on his exceptionally discerning eye for the diversity of people who inhabit the American South, as well as people from across the globe.

Heagins was one of only a dozen North Carolina photographers to be added formally to the collection of the NCMA a few years ago, when the museum decided to make major acquisitions in photography.

I had the great good fortune to do a joint show with Heagins a number of years ago at the late, lamented POV Gallery here in Raleigh.

Heagins' work in that show included the image above, one of a series of powerful images in which Heagins explored the complexities of Southern social structures and the relationships among power, class, and race in the American South.

Since then, his projects have taken him to Africa, Asia, South America, Europe, and especially through the Caribbean, with extensive work in Cuba and Haiti.

I think Heagins is a brilliant photographer, with exceptional gifts of skill, vision, and understanding. It's really good to see him achieving the kind of broad institutional recognition represented by these shows.

And who knows what greater glory the rest of the year may bring . . . . .