Thomas Deans Fine Art is pleased to present Late Harvest, an exhibition of photographs by Atlanta-based photographer Forest McMullin in his first solo show in Atlanta. In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, McMullin set off on a personal journey to try to make sense of the results, traveling through remote corners of the Deep South. Using only a paper map as guide, McMullin spent weeks on the road in areas completely unknown to him as a northerner. He drove through rural North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, finding his way largely by chance or whim. The photographs he made on the trip frankly but sympathetically document the people and places he visited, and they lead the viewer to draw more nuanced conclusions than McMullin himself anticipated. The photographs reveal unexpected beauties and a profound sense of place. They are McMullin’s personal, empathic record of a region and its identity.

Forest McMullin is known for his documentary photographs. He often documents social groups seen as “fringe,” bringing out their dignity, while still showing them with directness and honesty. At first McMullin assumed that Late Harvest, too, would be a portrait project documenting the faces and environments that seemed emblematic of the region. He thought the project might be something along the lines of “Adventures in Trumpland.” But as he stopped to photograph people and to listen to their personal stories, he was touched by their kindness and openness. He soon realized that the towns, landscapes, and buildings he passed shared a visual power that he also feltcompelled to consider and record.

Forest McMullin moved from New York to Atlanta in 2008 to teach at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). His photographs have been exhibited across the United States and as far away as Paris and Beijing. His work is found in numerous public and private collections. He has received many fellowships, grants, and artist residencies. His photographs have appeared in countless periodicals, including Time, Forbes, Fortune, Business Week, People, Audubon, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, The London Sunday Times, Der Stern, and Le Monde, among others.