Saturday, 24 July 2010

At the Fair (III): Jockey Street/Juke Joint

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Image, Source: digital file from original slide

Mountaineers and farmers trading horses and mules on "Jockey Street", Campton, Wolfe County, Kentucky: photo by Marion Post Wolcott, September 1940 (Farm Security Administration/Library of Congress)

Image, Source: digital file from original slide

Mountaineers and farmers trading horses and mules on "Jockey Street", Campton, Wolfe County, Kentucky: photo by Marion Post Wolcott, September 1940 (Farm Security Administration/Library of Congress)

Image, Source: digital file from original slide

Mountaineers and farmers trading horses and mules on "Jockey Street", Campton, Wolfe County, Kentucky: photo by Marion Post Wolcott, September 1940 (Farm Security Administration/Library of Congress)




A fair exchange ought to happen under the plain light of day. When the transaction has been done, not all will have received due recompense. Some will have been made less whole than others, some will have been less satisfied. Some, too, will have come to the fair and been turned away.



Image, Source: digital file from original slide

Living quarters and "juke joint" for migratory workers, slack season, Belle Glade, Florida: photo by Marion Post Wolcott, February 1941 (Farm Security Administration/Library of Congress)

Image, Source: digital file from original slide

Migratory workers by "juke joint", Belle Glade, Florida: photo by Marion Post Wolcott, February 1941 (Farm Security Administration/Library of Congress)

Image, Source: digital file from original slide

Cross roads store, "juke joint" and gas station, Melrose, Louisiana: photo by Marion Post Wolcott, June 1940 (Farm Security Administration Library of Congress)
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5 comments:

  1. Curtis Roberts24 July 2010 at 07:20

    To say that these three Beyond The Pale works are very moving fails to do them justice. They fairly sum up my daily impression of things today, particularly the line, "This is not that province any more". It's going to be a busy, hot weekend with some work and some play and I'm determined to enjoy all of it. I hope everyone visiting here does also.

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  2. Elmo St. Rose24 July 2010 at 15:40

    highway 61 revisited

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  3. TC24 July 2010 at 18:32

    Yes, something tells me we've been down this road before...

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  4. Issa's Untidy Hut26 July 2010 at 04:20

    Though all these are fine, the quality of light in the first and last photos is stunning, approaching the tactility of paint. And your first line touches on it ...

    "A fair exchange ought to happen under the plain light of day."

    Thanks for these important documents and your salient, lyrical observations. The parallels run deeply ...

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  5. TC26 July 2010 at 11:01

    Thank you, Don. For me these photos were an inspiration. Each of the great FSA photographers had a different eye and a different feeling for the common life of the nation. Their assignment was to document the lives of the rural poor, but it seems they have done something more. The sense of injustice that runs old and deep beneath the surface of our history is brought into the light, as you suggest.

    And yes, the wonders of Kodachrome together with the brilliance of the photographer's eye have at times given the work a special quality of light, and "the tactility of paint".

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