Photographer And Filmmaker Kendall Messick Captures The Faces, Stories And Memories Of A Forgotten Town In The U.Va. Art Museum Exhibit “Corapeake”
January 6, 2005 --
WHO: Photographer and filmmaker Kendall Messick
WHAT: Exhibit — “Corapeake”
WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 15 through Sunday, Feb. 27
WHERE: University of Virginia Art Museum, 155 Rugby Road
WHO: Kendall Messick
WHAT: Gallery Talk
WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 30, 2 p.m.
WHERE: U.Va. Art Museum
The tiny town of Corapeake, N.C., is the subject of works by photographer and filmmaker Kendall Messick, which will be on view at the University of Virginia Art Museum from Saturday, Jan. 15 through Sunday, Feb. 27.
For nearly 13,000 years, various Native American tribes were the only inhabitants of Corapeake. Then, in 1650 it became the region’s first European settlement. In 1763, George Washington, who saw in its nearby river a never-fulfilled potential for shipping and industry, surveyed the town. Despite its significance to our national history, Corapeake today struggles with a mostly elderly population comprised largely of poor farming families and almost no commercial center. Yet the community is warm, colorful and close-knit, and is given life by residents whose faces, stories and memories form the basis of the exhibition. Speaking of both the town itself and of the artwork, Messick said, “Corapeake is about love and loss and hope and faith. It explores the nature of memory in that it is about what is remembered as much as what is forgotten.”
The exhibition includes 43 photographs, a 56-minute film and pages of Messick’s own journals from his time in Corapeake. Each photograph is mounted on handmade rag paper and collaged with elements such as local town newspapers and wallpaper from a now-abandoned Corapeake home. Hung in scrapbook fashion, larger photographs are interspersed with small pictures, audio recordings and handwritten stories. The sequencing leads the visitor on a visual and narrative journey through the cycle of life from cradle to grave. The film will be played during gallery hours and includes still photography with voice-overs by 26 Corapeake storytellers.
The museum is open to the public free of charge Tuesday through Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
For details about the exhibit or information about the museum, call (434) 924-3592, or visit the museum’s Web site: http://www.virginia.edu/artmuseum.
Contact: Jane Ford, (434) 924-4298