Post on 28-May-2015
Going Over Home
Photographs by
Katie Raye Phillips
The Appalachian Mountains are unrelenting, and to some repulsivebut their strength is both beautiful and comforting. I suppose that is why we stay, even as we see the past in the future’s shadow. My photographs show the languishing mountains while I continue to move forward, as well as the romance with which I view them. The compromise lies in the photographs themselves. The places I visit are familiar, though they appear weary; perhaps weary with years of toil, perhaps it is something deeper. Perhaps it is not weariness at all, but sadness, that runs even into the earth. Sadness for the people who leave the land they once treasured, leave it unguarded and alone. Sadness for the traditions that quickly disappear. Sadness for all the things that are being destroyed by the quickness of life that the mountains just cannot seem to accommodate. Then there is me. What part do I play in this landscape? I left. I did what I swore I would never do. I return for my family, and to record a landscape that will soon be gone. I have changed, but the mountains still recognize their child. You can go home again. Things will be replaced. They will deteriorate. Soon, the mountains will be all that is left. As long as I too remain, I will always return to the mountains that bore me. I guess I am like Ivy Rowe, a fair and tender lady of Lee Smith’s imagination. For to be truly at home, I too “need the high pure air and a mountain to lay my eyes against.”
“The Old Home,
Flat Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Abandoned Church, Pigeon Roost”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Cemetery,
Bailey Settlement”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”March, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Abandoned House, Brummetts Creek”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”February, 2005Katie Raye Phillips
“Peterson Home,
Flat Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”April, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Mailboxes,
Brummetts Creek”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Nanny’s Daylilies,
Pigeon Roost”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Paint-Ball Park,
Burnsville”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”February, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Shadows,
Griffith Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”November, 2005Katie Raye Phillips
“Pulling Corn,
Brummetts Creek”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Watering Trough,
Griffith Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Pasture,
Griffith Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”January, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Hiding Rock,
Flat Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Dillon,
Brummetts Creek”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Luke,
Griffith Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Thomas,
Griffith Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”December, 2005Katie Raye Phillips
“Charles Loves Atlas,
Flat Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Gone For the Winter,
Bee Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”January, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Barn,
Griffith Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”December, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Barn,
Flat Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“The Hopson Place,
Bee Branch”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”January, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Barn,
Harrell Hill”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”March, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Old Mill,
Loafer’s Glory”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“The Griffith Place,
Harrell Hill”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”March, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
“Home”
Silver-Gelatin Print11” x 14”July, 2006Katie Raye Phillips
Biography
Katie Phillips lives and works in Boone, North Carolina. She has continuously photographed her home in Western North Carolina since 2005, the resulting images became, “Going Over Home.” Her work has been seen in the University of North Carolina Student Union, as well as in the John and June Allcott Gallery at the University.
Contact
Katie Raye Phillipskrphilli@email.unc.edu