Neilson Hubbard, the American singer-songwriter and producer who was responsible for Mary Gauthier’s Grammy nominated ‘Rifles and Rosary Beads‘ and who has worked with other artists such as Kim Richey and Sam Baker, will be launching his latest project at an exhibition to be held at the Hackney Picture House. The showing will be open from the 24th to the 26th of January, during the UK Americana Festival. You can read more about the festival here.
‘The American South’ by Neilson Hubbard is a book of 83 photographs, released by Ki An Projects, that takes an uncompromising look at a range of images depicting the Southern states of America. In her preface to the book, Mary Gauthier says: “The American South, conjure the essence of the place that we are from; of a people from “down there”. That slow-moving lowland perennially trapped in humidity, heat, hurricanes, and a twisted, tangled history; a swath of humanity living decades behind the rest of the country, “behind the times” as we’d say, and damn proud of it”. Images from the book will be displayed at the exhibition.
Hubbard recently expanded his field of artistic interest from music production and songwriting to photography and filmmaking with his first photography exhibition, ‘Our DNA‘, last year. Directing the award-winning documentary ‘The Orphan Brigade: Soundtrack to a Ghost Story’, came after producing music videos for artists such as Lucinda Williams, John Prine and Jason Isbell. ‘The American South’ showcases his desire to capture a complete story in a single frame. Gauthier said of Hubbard’s new project, “In Neilson Hubbard’s hand, the camera becomes a magic wand, a tool of empathy, bringing us to feel the feeling of another.”.
This exhibition of photos and the release of his book is a welcome enrichment to the festival’s musical programme. You can buy tickets for the festival shows, talks, and events via the AMA-UK website.
