Magdalena Solé | The Mississippi Delta

Photo © Magdalena Sole-All Rights Reserved

"To understand the world, you must first understand 

a place like Mississippi". William Faulkner

The other day I found an invitation in my mail from the Leica Gallery on Broadway for The Mississippi Delta exhibition by photographer Magdalena Solé.

The invitation described the exhibition as being a photographic exploration of the Delta communities in the Deep South. Communities such as the sharecroppers, plantations, and conjuring up the sound of the Blues. The area is known for its small wealthy gentry, and the "large impoverished underclass living in dilapidated house and tilting trailers". Naturally, Ms Solé worked in Clarksdale, which has been historically significant in the history of the Blues, and is now a mecca for those photographers and other documentarians who seek to document this musical genre, and lifestyle.

Her photographs also formed the basis for her book New Delta Rising, which won a prestigious award in France. She used Leica M8 and M9 cameras for the project preferring them because they're small, and portable...while allowing her to remain virtually invisible. The photograph used in the exhibition's invitation (above) is really fabulous...the expressions of the two men (and the dog), and the juxtaposition of all the characters in the frame is just perfect.

Magdalene Sole was born in Spain and raised in Switzerland. She arrived in New York City in 1984 where she still lives.

I'm not terribly fond of attending exhibitions as such, but I certainly intend to drop by the Leica Gallery for that exhibition, which runs from January 11 to February 23, 2013. I will post about what my impressions are when I do so.