Artist: Michaela O’Brien

Project: Love Valley

Description: Michaela O’Brien’s Love Valley captures life in a North Carolina township founded as a “cowboy haven” in 1954. At .2 square miles, with a population hovering around 100, Love Valley “brings to mind a John Wayne movie.” Allowing only foot and horse traffic, it “also conjures an eerie ghostliness at quieter times of day.” O’Brien’s photographs present a “fragmented narrative of frontier freedom” in which “the complete story is eschewed for the remains: a constellation of biblical and patriotic gestures, and what lies at the heart of it all, the desire to start over.”

Eyes on the South is curated by 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..