Shelby Lee Adams

See also: Adams

Shelby Lee Adams (born in 1950) is a known American photographer for his photographs of the family life in the the Appalachian Mountains.

Shelby Lee Adams was born in Hazard, a small town in the east of Kentucky (the United States). His/her much travelling father, Adams moved much before fixing himself, then high-school pupil, in his grandparents, in Hot Spot. Not knowing if he preferred the city or the countryside, he refused to be integrated and immersed himself in arts and the works of photography. At that time, about 1965, the Peace Corps were interested in vagueness of poverty which prevailed in the Appalachian Mountains and when a team of turning visited her city, Adams proposed to them to meet his/her grandparents and his uncle so that the team could film their daily life. But when the media described them like the poor underfed people, its close relations felt betrayed and Adams was desperate. This experiment marked it deeply and led it to photograph the inhabitants of the Appalachian Mountains. When it joined Cleveland Institute off Art and was found surrounded artists, it was a true shock which led it to deny its origins (it affirmed to come from Cincinnati) and remained distant from its family. At the time of its second year of study at the university, Adams presented its work to photographers of FSA sent in the south to document itself on the underprivileged population. Initially on the defensive, Adams was plunged in books on this topic and showed them with its family at the time of one of her estival stays. His/her uncle doctor then took it along in his visits to residence to meet people as those which one saw in the books. More than 25 years afterwards, Adams continues to return visit to these people, turning over, years after years, to document their existence. Into its last work, Adams introduces the spectator into families which left the remote mountainous areas for camps of caravans where the antennas satellite form the only horizon.

Professional path

Adams begins in 1975 as photographer from museum and fitter from exposure to Taft Museum from Cincinnati. The following year he becomes photographer for a company which carries out greetings cards but there remain only two years before launching out in freelance in 1978 with a personal project which leads it in the east of the United States. In 1979, it becomes teaching in history of photography in Northern Kentucky University but as of the following year it works again of independent, and this until 1987. He will be a then professor attending between 1992 and 1995 the university of Salem where he will direct the program of photography before being an artist in residence with Bennington during two years. He exerts, since, an activity of commercial and artistic, of independent photography.

Collections

The work of Admas is presented in the permanent collections of many museums of which: Whitney Museum off American Art (New York), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Museum Of the Elysium (in Lausanne), the National Gallery off Canada (in Ottawa), Stedelijk Museum (in Amsterdam), Art Institute off Chicago, International Center off Photography (in New York), Time Life Collection (in Rockefeller Center of New York) and the Museum off Modern Art of New York.

Personal exposures

Adams began its exposures of group in 1976, as of obtaining sound master in photography obtained at the University of Iowa, and its personal exposures in 1978. To date, it realized more than fifty personal exposures. The selection below was limited to some exposures among most recent.

2005 Carl Solway Gallery (Cincinnati)
2004 Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro)
2003 Fahey-Klein Gallery (Los Angeles)
2003 Yossi Milo Gallery (New York)
2003 International ACTA, International festival of the Photography of Rome

Publications

Works of Adams were published and commented on since 1979. The selection presented here limits to the year 2006.

(in) Focus , Fine Art Photography Magazine (New York), discussion with James Rhem, portfolio of 8-10 new images.
(in) Studies In American Culture , October 006, deepened critical study, " The dignity off Shelby Lee Adams' S Family photographs." First of cover of the newspaper and 5 photographs additional.
(in) The Photography Collector' S Guides , Lorraine Anne Davis, editor, Bulfinch, N.Y.C. 07, a photograph with text.
(in) American Photography 22 , Photography Annual, Kathy Ryan, flesh-person committee, N.Y.C. 06,1 photography.
(in) The Progressive Collection Book , Toby Devan Lewis, editor, 30 years off collecting over 6,000 works off art, 1 photography.

References

the site of the Edelmanqui gallery represents Adams.
the blog of Adamsqui contains many bonds towards museums, its portfolios, its biography and its motivations.

Illustrations

a direct link towards its photographs at its galerist

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