Artist: Richard Sexton

Project: Enigmatic Stream

Description: Richard Sexton’s forthcoming book Enigmatic Stream: Industrial Landscapes of the Lower Mississippi River documents, in close to one hundred images spanning nearly twenty years of work, the role of industry along the riverbank. “I am drawn to environments that are not destined to last, and whose final chapter may be soon written,” says Sexton, who shot the series in black and white “to evoke the technological era,” a time when these industrial sites “were celebrated and romanticized as the feats of human ingenuity they genuinely are.”

Juxtaposing the hulking silhouettes of these places against their adjacent surroundings—residential areas, agricultural pastures, and seemingly undisturbed wetlands—Sexton poses the question of how to facilitate economic development in the region while maintaining the health of the nearby ecosystem.

 In conjunction with the book’s release next week, the Historic New Orleans Collection will exhibit a selection of photographs from Enigmatic Stream. Find the full details here.

Eyes on the South&\#xA0;is curated by&\#xA0;Jeff Rich. The weekly series features selections of current work from Southern artists, or artists whose photography concerns the South. To submit your work to the series, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..