Event Details
October 5, 2012 – February 24, 2013
In Working South, renowned watercolorist Mary Whyte captures the essence of vanishing blue-collar professions from across ten states in the American South with sensitivity and reverence. From the textile mill worker and tobacco farmer to the sponge diver and elevator operator, Whyte has sought out some of the last remnants of rural and industrial workforces that were once ubiquitous throughout the region but are now declining due to changes in our economy, environment, and technology. In this exhibition of 50 watercolor portraits, Whyte shows us a shoeshine man, a hat maker, an oysterman, a shrimper, a ferryman, a funeral band, and others to document the range of southerners whose everyday labors have gone unheralded while keeping the South in business.
