The New York Times recently celebrated the 125th anniversary of their Book Review, and re-published an interview with the great photographer and writer Eudora Welty.
Eudora’s house, Polaroid SX-70 (2017)
The reporter had traveled to Jackson to query her about Losing Battles. There are many lovely parts of the interview—not least the very first part, where she insists on picking him up at the airport. One of my favorites was this:
No sooner inside the door than she’s concerned that her guest must be faint with hunger, after the one-hour time change from New York. “I’ve got ham and snap beans and grits and salad out in the kitchen, will that be all right?”
Tracy in Eudora’s garden, Polaroid 600 (2018)
The article also reveals her wartime nom-de-plume, Michael Ravenna, which she used as a bulwark against a sexist “Times Sunday editor [who] suggested that a lady reviewer from the Deep South might not be the most authoritative critic for the accounts of World War II’s far-flung campaigns[.]”
Eudora’s garden, Polaroid 600 (2018)
The interview is a really nice morning read over coffee, and brought to mind these photos of her house and garden I made a few years ago—most of which have never before been seen.
I lived down the street from her home for twenty years, and often thought of it, and her; I was comforted the house was still there, that you can visit it, that an artist and Mississippian had created in that space for so many years.
Living room chandelier, Pinehurst Street, Polaroid SX-70 (2017)
Shadows on the porch at Eudora’s, Polaroid SX-70 (2017)
Have you ever nicked yourself while shaving—not so bad as you’d notice, but enough that a drop or two of crimson seeped out from beneath the skin—only realized later, when you saw a pinky nail-sized spot of rust on your clothes? In some ways I hoped Eudora’s home at 1119 Pinehurst was like that for artists in Belhaven and Jackson. That her effort and work and care over the years had bloomed all over the area like a Mississippi Castalia.
I am very grateful to her for that.
AS ALWAYS I am gorjusjxn on Instagram, and you can see more Polaroids at McCartyPolaroids (which I updated a little bit this morning).