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Remnants of former prehistoric societies exist throughout Appalachia. One photographer is trying to capture glimpses of those ancient times in a series he has dubbed “Vanishing Points.”
Michael Sherwin is an associate professor of photography at West Virginia University. When he moved to Morgantown with his family several years ago there were protests happening around the development of what is now the Suncrest Town Center. West Virginia University sold an ancient indigenous burial site to developers. Sherwin entered the scene after a super-Kroger was built.
Sherwin says historical landscapes have always fascinated him. He shoots with a large format camera like the one Ansel Adams used. He says there’s a mystery to the process that he enjoys – a break from a world of immediate gratification.
So he hauled his camera to an overlook of the growing shopping center on the edge of Morgantown, composed the shot, and then processed the negative.
It was the beginning of what has become a series Sherwin named “Vanishing Points.”
Sherwin began to research what ancient remnants of lost civilizations in the region still exist, then seek them out to photograph them. Images in the resulting series usually incorporate some strangely banal detail of modern society that coexists with some former society’s faded mark on the landscape.
Then, some of Sherwin’s images show no obvious trace of former society at all.
Sherwin’s series includes some 60 images. He says it’s an ongoing project but that he’s at a point where putting a large show together would be possible. It’s something he hopes to achieve in coming years in this region. One of the benefits of shooting with large format camera is the incredible detail that is captured, he explains, so the actual prints would be really big (three or four feet tall).
His project was made possible in part with grants from the Colonel Eugene E. Myers Foundation, the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, the National Endowment for the Arts, and with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
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This week, we’re revisiting a show featuring storytellers out loud in front of audiences. Folks like five-time champion of the West Virginia Liars’ Contest, Bil Lepp. Also, musicians Anna & Elizabeth, whose storytelling used something known as a crankie. And, we’ll head to the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsThis week’s Inside Appalachia features storytellers from around the region, including author, television host and five-time West Virginia Liars Contest winner Bil Lepp. Here he is back in 2019, telling a story during a Mountain Stage performance at the West Virginia Culture Center.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsDaniel Johnston recorded songs in his parents' basement in rural West Virginia that would eventually inspire artists such as Kurt Cobain, Beck, Wilco, and Sonic Youth. In this award-winning episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay explores the life, art, and enduring legacy of the late singer-songwriter and visual artist whose creative genius and struggles with bipolar disorder made him one of America's most influential outsider artists.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsThe late singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston grew up in West Virginia and came onto the indie music scene in the 1980s. Last year, Johnston was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame and he’s featured in the next episode of Us & Them. In this award-winning show, host Trey Kay learns about Johnston’s legacy which was partly shaped by his challenges with mental illness.
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