The Scenic Route

Photographer’s exhibit in Tryon runs hot and cold
Yellow House, Wire Road, Germantown, NY 2016 (from “Upstate”)

Asheville-based artist Tema Stauffer’s solo exhibit at Upstairs Artspace in Tryon, Analogues: North & South, features photographs from two place-based bodies of work, “Upstate” and “Southern Fiction.” 

One is focused in upstate NY, in and around Hudson, a small city on the Hudson River that was established right after the 13 colonies — as the first officially incorporated United States city. “I was focusing on traces of that region’s past, with a mix of pictures in Hudson and surrounding communities that speak to the sense of industrial and agricultural history and also the beauty of the natural landscape,” states the artist. 

“When I moved south, it was like an epiphany,” says photographer Tema Stauffer, whose work emphasizes regional atmosphere.
Portrait by Colby Rabon

“Southern Fiction” views the Deep South through the lens of 20th-century literature. The seeds for that project were planted when Stauffer joined the faculty at East Tennessee State University — which provided generous grants to fund both photography projects, including the two books that came out of them.  

“As soon as I moved south, it was almost like an epiphany: I’d travel and photograph places — using Southern literature, and its emphasis on place, as a map.” Stauffer took more than a dozen road trips over a three-year period, as she photographed numerous locations relevant to the work of 10 novelists including Eudora Welty, Alice Walker, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Harper Lee, and Carson McCullers. “I was trying to capture the spirit of their fiction, and the moods and atmospheres they described in their writing. The ‘Southern Fiction’ travel planning involved not just reading maps, but shelves full of books. It was definitely the most research-heavy photo project I’ve done.”

Fruit Stand, Highway 441, Georgia, 2018 (from “Southern Fiction”)

While involved in the “Upstate” project, Stauffer had no idea that she’d soon be living in the South, so despite its title, this exhibit isn’t necessarily about contrasting two regions. “It’s more about referencing how I photographed those different environments,” she says. But the distinct projects intersect at the artistic approach of the late William Andrew Christenberry, a nationally acclaimed photographer from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, whom Stauffer cites as an influence. 

“He used large-format photography and would return to locations to photograph them at different times of year,” says Stauffer. “I shot the ‘Upstate’ project in medium and large format — the first time I starting shooting large format. That’s [also] what I used for the ‘Southern Fiction’ project.”

Anderson Cotton Gin, Clarksdale, Mississippi, 2020 (from “Southern Fiction”)

She explains: “It’s a slower, more intentional process of shooting, always on a tripod. It takes a longer time to set up the camera and compose the shot, and lends itself to a certain meditative type of photography, with lots of attention to composition.”

If there is a north-south contrast to be drawn, it’s not philosophical, but rather an earthly concern — namely, extreme weather. 

William Faulkner’s Kitchen Curtains, Rowan Oak, Oxford, Mississippi, 2018 (from “Southern Fiction”)

“[The] ‘Upstate’ [project] was very cold. I shot a lot in winter in freezing, icy conditions — often at five o’clock in the morning or at dusk, to capture the magical quality of the light there. The ‘Southern Fiction’ project was the opposite — extreme 90- to 100-degree heat and humidity.” 

Tema Stauffer, Asheville, see temastauffer.com and @temastauffer on Instagram. Stauffer is represented by Tracey Morgan Gallery (22 London Road, Asheville, traceymorgangallery.com). Her exhibit Analogues: North & South runs through Friday, Aug. 30, at Upstairs Artspace (49 South Trade St., Tryon, upstairsartspace.org). 

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