On The Banks
This project began as an exploration of a river and has evolved into a much bigger conversation about the state of the rural south. Rivers have always been a source of life, a place where civilization began and then thrived. A connector, a means for commerce, for energy. As I began to travel up and and down both sides of this river I saw what can happen when certain variables become unsustainable. We’re at a point in our civilization where we are seeing dramatic effects of how vulnerable this land we live on really is. My aim was to photograph an honest and beautiful perspective of this southern river. The quiet moments, encounters with wildlife, portraits of people who have lived storied lives on and near this slow moving body of water. I also wanted to document the many layers of time that are present in this land. The small towns which seem to be hanging on by threads of families who have lived there for generations, the remnants of industry that has moved on to bigger towns or closer to busier roads. There is much here to see from the farmland to the catfisherman, the old mills to the corner convenience store at the center of town. I hope that these photographs will inspire a deeper appreciation for the river and its surroundings, and provoke a sense of responsibility to protect it.
These photographs are made on and around the Savannah River. The river acts as the border between South Carolina and Georgia. I’m focused on the land and the river below the geological fall line in Augusta, Georgia. From Augusta the river meanders through some of the most rural parts of the American South. Past small and historic towns, nuclear power plants, black water swamps feed into the river from both sides and it flows towards the Atlantic Ocean. The river, in most places, is completely inaccessible except for by boat. Small remote landings can be discovered, sometimes only by talking to locals at gas stations. This is what drew me to photograph this wild and unseen place. Once the river hits I-95 outside of Savannah there is a short repopulation of its usage. A giant global port is erected on the banks and massive industry thrives. The river flows past the city of Savannah, my home, with its historic riverfront, the birthplace of the state of Georgia. And finally, the river flows its final last few miles through marshland, barrier Islands and empties into the Atlantic at Tybee Island.
The river is the roadmap of this project but it is not the story of these photographs. Through landscapes of the river and the decaying towns, I aim to highlight the vulnerability of both the natural and man-made environments. The portraits of the people who use, live near, and experience the river on a daily basis, serve as a reminder of the importance of preserving this fragile ecosystem for future generations. I find so much beauty in this place. In these points of vulnerability. I seek out the layers of time, and attempt to capture them in a single frame. I look at the complexity of the landscape, trees, the water, and the mud in between. These small towns decayed after years of closed mills, new highways directing traffic away from these towns rather than through them. I hope to show those who discover these photographs the same feeling that I felt when I discovered these places.