One of my favorite places in the world is the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. No matter how many times I go, there is always something that surprises me, enlightens me, and often thrills me. So when they asked for help, I sent them a giant monkey wearing sunglasses.
FORTY FOOT, Lincoln County, Miss., Polaroid 600 (2020)
I’ve been very thankful to have a long relationship with the Ogden and the incredible people who continue to make it such a holy place of Southern art. For a while I’ve donated an original Polaroid to their annual Magnolia Ball fundraiser. It’s a really fun process to figure out what to donate, although it can be a little nerve-wracking!
I start off by sending five or so Polaroids over to start the conversation. I try to stay away from the estoteric, since the whole point is that we want people to see it and like it, and more imporantly, spend their money on it. So we’re looking for something pretty high level. The twist is, I’m donating the original, and I rarely part with them nowadays.
Phil Campbell, Alabama, Polaroid SX-70 (2019)
This was last year’s donation, from a long swing through northeast Mississippi up to FAME studios.1 I spent a great half hour last year with Ogden Museum Curator of Photography Richard McCabe talking about the work, the South, and instant film. Richard has been a big influence on me personally and professionally, especially his enduring dedication to instant film and preserving the South of our respective childhoods. His keen insight and steady kindness is always welcome. Also, he’s a real road warrior and has seen just about everything there is to see in the South!
I was beyond thrilled when FORTY FOOT up there was picked up for its “buy it now” price of $650, a far larger impact on the funding of the Ogden then my own wallet affords. Our museums and institutions celebrating our history and culture really had a tough time in the past year, and I hope that as we move deeply into summer that they begin to thrive again.
SINCE I MOSTLY HOLD ONTO my originals, the best way to get my work onto your walls is with a print. Last year I was part of a traveling show with the amazing Due South Co-op. It was formally titled Between the Margins, but I ended up calling it The World’s Last Ever Art Show. We came back from the show at the Southeastern Center for Photography in Greenville, South Carolina, and then proceeded to a time of shelter in place.
Yet the work endures, and if anything, gained a new depth through the complexity of 2020. DSC has a print shop with all of the work from that show—mine, plus the lovely art of Katie Steed, Ashleigh Coleman, Ellen Rodgers Daniels, and Ryan Steed. We presented my work a little differently, for the first time not showing the object of the Polaroid per se, just the image—to harmonize with the others and celebrate the image itself.
This Is My Divorce List, Memphis, Tenn., Polaroid SX-70 (2019)
The DSC prints are $60 and on French Paper, both stamped with our marque and signed individually. They’re available at the Between the Margins store. Prints from the Four Kinds of Y’all store are $50, and are digital chromogenic prints at 7x8 size.
If you ever see anything here or on my Instagram that you like, let me know. The price is $100 per print; the process is that I ask you to donate that amount to one of a few Mississippi-based charities which focus on food security for those in need, and you send me the receipt. Prints are 5x7 on Canson Infinity Baryta Prestige paper and replicate the scans of the actual Polaroids.
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY and I suggest reading the text of our original Declaration, aloud, to bring this incredible experiment into focus. I see something new every time I read it.
AS ALWAYS I am gorjusjxn on Instagram, and you can see more Polaroids and time travel at McCartyPolaroids.
I literally just realized that both my 2020 and 2021 contributions were fireworks related.