A field of cut burley tobacco

Artist Rob Amberg American, born 1947

Date1993; printed 2002

MediumGelatin-silver print

DimensionsImage: 12 1/4 x 18 1/4 in. (31.1 x 46.4 cm.)

ClassificationsPhotography

Credit LineGift of the artist

Object number2004.8.12

On View

Not on view

Label TextRob Amberg has spent more than twenty years documenting the rural life of western North Carolina. His work captures the social, cultural, and economic changes to a community and the direct impact of those changes on the lives of the people who live there.

This is one of six works in the NCMA collection from his project, Sodom Laurel Album, which provides an intimate view of an isolated mountain community.

Describing the relationships he developed with his photographic subjects, Amberg has written, “My relationship with Dellie and Junior gave all of us the opportunity to see through each other’s eyes, beyond the surface, removed from the constraints of culture. It’s a gift of perception. But, with ever-increasing contact between diverse populations, seeing beyond stereotypes and understanding ourselves through our relationships with others become important life skills. And perhaps our only sources of salvation.”
[L. Dougherty, 2007]

ProvenanceCreated Madison County, NC, 1993, printed 2002; collection of the artist; given to NCMA, 2004.
Published ReferencesRob Amberg, Sodom Laurel Album (exhibition catalogue) (Chapel Hill: published by the University of North Carolina Press in association with the Center for Documentary Studies, 2002), listed 155, illus. 64.
Exhibition HistoryAsheville, NC, Asheville Art Museum, "Sodom Laurel Album," October 2002-January 2003; Durham, NC, Center for Documentary Studies, May 2003-July 2003; Richmond, VA, Art 6, May 2004-July 2004, listed 155, illus. 64.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Contemporary NC Photography from the Museum's Collection," (part 1) September 3-November 5, 2006.

Winston-Salem, NC, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), "Contemporary North Carolina Photographs from the North Carolina Museum of Art," October 28, 2007-March 2, 2008.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Presence/Absence," November 27, 2011-May 27, 2012.

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