he Coastal Discovery Museum has opened an exhibit called, “The Way We Were: The Rural South in the 1930s.” The exhibit will be open until the end of February 2005.

Central to the exhibit are photographs, by Walker Evans, that are depictions of many of the hardships that people faced during this period.

This is no ordinary photography exhibit, however. It also includes dozens of artifacts from the period including furniture, quilts, correspondence, photos and handmade household items. Louanne LaRoche, Joe Adams and Babbie Guscio loaned the exhibit’s furnishings. In addition, the Heyward House Historic Center, has loaned several items from its collection of household goods to the Coastal Discovery Museum for the exhibit.

LaRoche, resident of Bluffton, former owner of the Red Piano Galleries on Hilton Head and St. Helena Island and an active artist herself, says that she, “lovingly loans these items to this exhibit in memory of my mother, Johnnie Lou LaRoche” who passed away in November of last year. Many of these pieces of furniture will bring back memories for exhibit visitors. The acts of reusing, refashioning and recycling are clearly evident in many of the items featured in the exhibit. Each of the photographs are complemented by these physical reminders of the past.

Joe Adams, owner of the America! Oh Yes Gallery, selected the photographs that are on display. They are from the collection of the Library of Congress. The framed images are available for sale to benefit the Coastal Discovery Museum.

According to Natalie Hefter, vice president of history at the museum, a number of presentations by authorities on history in the South and particularly South Carolina will be scheduled throughout the exhibit’s run, through February 2005.

“We are eager to have visitors learn about life in the South during the Depression years,” Hefter said. “It’s very different than the life we know today. In many ways the documentary photography of Walker Evans tells our story better than anything else. He invented and mastered the documentary aesthetic. His works show the beauty of his subjects and the horror of the social conditions in which many of them lived.”

“From 1935 to 1937, Evans took part in the most extensive photographic project ever undertaken in this country. It was a pictorial survey by the Farm Security Administration. Evans also collaborated with the writer, James Agee, to create a book, LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN, a classic in Southern literature.”

The Exhibit is located in the Jarvis Gallery, on the main floor of the Coastal Discovery Museum, 100 William Hilton Parkway, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The Museum’s hours are Monday through Saturday from 9 until 5 and on Sunday from 10 until 2.

Please contact Natalie Hefter for additional details. Hefter can be reached at
nhefter@coastaldiscovery.org
or at 689-6767, ext. 225.