The Olde South Photography Series

While change has certainly become a part of our everyday lives, with it comes the disappearance of pieces of our past. The landscape has changed and the heritage of those who worked the land and who created our traditions is now only visible on our back roads. These were times of hard work, times of family strength, and times when stories were told on the porch at the end of the day. They were often dreams set into motion and then dashed by storms of Mother nature and by storms of mankind. Once gone, they do not return in their original form, and the stories told inside their walls fade with every new generation.

As Ansel Adams did for the National Parks of the West and as Clyde Butcher has done for the Everglades, Rick McAllister have tried to photograph and conserve structures that represent a part of our past here in the South. Black & white images that hopefully give these elders a little dignity as they fade from our landscapes. There are currently over 400 images in the series and they include Cracker cabins and barns, textile and sugar mills, plantations and estate ruins, churches and cemeteries, and forts and fortifications.

In addition to being a part of the permanent collection in the Georgia Nick Gallery here in St. Augustine, and the HUB on Canal Gallery in New Smyrna Beach, they have been exhibited throughout the South and are a part of private and corporate collections throughout the United States. It is an honor to be able to exhibit The Olde South Series as a part of St. Johns County’s “Art in Public Spaces” program.

This exhibit is funded in part by the Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs.