Everyday Culture presents seven key projects by Documentary Arts over the past forty years that focus on tattooing, blues music in Texas, Black cowboys and rodeos, folk artists, Texas-Mexico border culture, urban street life in Dallas, and vernacular photography. Represented through photographs, films, music, and folk art, the materials in Everyday Culture point to previously marginalized or ostracized cultural forms that have largely gone mainstream and are now part of America’s vibrant cultural heritage. The exhibition’s presentation of these creative expressions, once seen as the purview of “outsiders,” preserves materials and practices from the 1970s and 80s. And it demonstrates how the past four decades have brought a sea-change to art that is considered worthy of attention and serious consideration.
The non-profit organization Documentary Arts was founded in 1985 by Alan Govenar, a Guggenheim Fellow and interdisciplinary artist, historian, and folklorist whose expansive career has been at the edge of advancing public dialogue about a kaleidoscope of overlooked voices across America. In a multitude of ways, Govenar and his work with Documentary Arts has unearthed America’s grassroots stories in cities, sprawling suburbs, and out-of-the way rural towns. Over the past 50+ years, Govenar has authored more than 40 books, directed 20+ documentary films, created Off-Broadway musicals, and had his photographs and artist books featured in numerous exhibitions and public collections
Documentary Arts is a network of like-minded collaborators, from a cross-section of academic disciplines and creatives, in Dallas and New York City, focused on advancing essential perspectives on art revolving around themes of change and the interconnectedness of diverse people and the potential for finding harmony in unexpected places.
Curated by CPW Executive Director Brian Wallis, Everyday Culture will be accompanied by a book of the same title, published by CPW, co-authored by Wallis and Govenar.
Image: Alan Govenar, Valle Nuevo, Mexico, 1994. Courtesy the photographer.
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