Mount Zion No. 1 Baptist Church, Rodney, Mississippi, 2020 from Southern Fiction is published in Radar Poetry’s Issue 29 accompanying a poem by Ruth Dikey, ALL THE WAYS WE ARE TETHERED TO THE EARTH. 

I will be teaching two virtual photography classes on Thursday, February 11 and Thursday, February 18 from 6-8pm in conjunction with the Asheville Art Museum’s current photography exhibition, Vantage Points: Contemporary Photography from the Whitney Museum of American Art.  The first class will consist of an artist talk about my own work, and the second class will focus on critique of student work reflecting explorations of people, places, and narratives.  Students can register for the six-part course led by Paige Taylor, which also includes sessions with artists Bryon Tenesaca and Liz Williams, on the museum’s website before the deadline on February 4.

A Charged Stillness: Tema Stauffer Interviewed by Kathryn Savage published in BOMB Magazine online on January 13, 2021

Jill’s Room, Rowan Oak, Oxford, Mississippi, 2020 from SOUTHERN FICTION is available through Baxter Street CCNY’s Artist in Focus Fund Anniversary Print Sale, along with work by more than 75 artists. Artists in Focus Fund is a print sale and relief initiative to directly support artists. All prints are $150 between Dec. 2 and Dec. 26 at www.artistsinfocusfund.org.

In June, as protests against racial discrimination and violence were exploding across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s death, I made two trips to Eatonton, GA to explore the roots of author Alice Walker for my body of work in-progress, SOUTHERN FICTION. Three images shot on Wards Chapel Road, one portraying the church where she was baptized and another of the cemetery where her parents and ancestors are buried, are included in Sasha Wolf’s summer group show presented on her website. The online exhibition brings together a loose collection of recent work by artists responding to these challenging times with photographs and reflections on these images by Elinor Carucci, Kris Graves, Sasha Rudensky, Christopher Rodriquez, Bryan Schutmaat, Chuck Kelton, Barbara Bosworth, and Caleb Charland.

Mural commemorating the 1966 Port Gibson Boycott led by the NAACP, Port Gibson, Mississippi, 2020

I’ve donated a photograph shot in March 2020 of a mural commemorating the 1966 Port Gibson Boycott led by the NAACP in Mississippi from my body of work in-progress, SOUTHERN FICTION, to Rocket Science Magazine’s fundraiser dedicated to organizations who support Black lives and the ongoing fight against racism.  On April 1, 1966, the local chapter of the NAACP imposed an economic boycott on the majority of white-owned businesses in Port Gibson. Picketing and peaceful marches and demonstrations demanding equality and racial justice continued on and off for eleven years, during which a significant number of business failed or closed. Prints of this image, produced by Light Work Lab in an edition of 10 for $100, can be purchased on Rocket Science Magazine’s website though July 17 and proceeds of sales will be contributed to the NAACP.

William Faulkner’s Kitchen Curtains, Rowan Oak, Oxford, Mississippi, 2019

Southern Fiction, a new series in-progress exploring the settings that inspired the literary work of iconic 20th-century Southern writers, received a Small Grant Award in 2019 and a Major Grant Award in 2020 from East Tennessee State University’s Research Development Committee.

A collection of images from Upstate, along with Xhenet Aliu’s foreword to the book, were recently published on Hudson River Stories, a website created by Jon Bowermaster featuring content about the Hudson River by photographers, filmmakers, writers, activists and environmentalists.

Selections from American Stills and Upstate were recently featured in an article, Rural America: Photography as Cultural Narrative, written by CJ Dansdill for Musée Magazine along with work by photographers Todd Hido, Jon Horvath, Seph Lawless and Gregory Crewdson.

Interior, Furgary Shack #6, Hudson, New York, 2017

Two images from UPSTATE are included in Coined in the South at the Mint Museum Uptown in Charlotte, NC on view from October 10, 2019 – February 16, 2020. This group exhibition of work in various media by artists working in and/or from the Southeast is hosted by The Young Affiliates in collaboration with the museum.