Article:
Clarksdale images bring photographer back to Delta

By:
By ANDY ROSS
Staff Writer
Monday, November 24, 2008

When asking visitors to Clarksdale just why and how they have found themselves in this Mississippi Delta city, explanations usually include following a fascination with blues music, southern culture or the vast, stretching landscape itself.

Regardless of the reasons given, however, there also seems to be a sense with many newcomers that random chance or even fate played a role in their decision; a last minute detour en route to Memphis or following a vague travel tip from a friend.

For California-based artist Ming Lowe, such a theme has certainly applied during the two visits she has made. A professional painter and photographer who lives in the mountains outside Palm Springs, Calif., Lowe initially came through Clarksdale in 2005 while on a trip to Tennessee unrelated with her work. Lowe says it didn’t take long for an undeniable curiosity with the town to set in and before she knew it, her camera was in action.

“I really didn’t know anything about the Crossroads and all that. I had heard a little bit about Robert Johnson, but the blues wasn’t so much my thing,” Lowe said. “After driving around town though and looking around, my conscious was just telling me I had to take these photographs.”

Before heading on her way, Lowe spent a number of days in Clarksdale capturing shots at locations including Messenger’s, Red’s Lounge, The New Roxy on Issaquena Avenue and The Riverside Hotel. Although two years later in California she would put on a small showing of a few Clarksdale photos, Lowe says she really didn’t think much about the shots as her primary work with industrial photography was consuming her days.

This month, however, while on a cross country road trip to Vermont and other states, the artist says she decided on a whim to head back to Mississippi, primarily to give out copies of the pictures to individuals whom she had captured three years prior. It was not until she arrived and began re-examining the images, Lowe says, that the idea of putting them together for a new show really struck her. After approaching the Delta Blues Museum and others with examples of her work this week, Lowe says her shots have received a great response and are now expected to be featured in an exhibit at the Delta Blues Museum next spring or summer.

“Because everybody had been so nice to me here I wanted to return copies to the people and see if they would be happy to see them. Then I said wow, this is almost like a show in itself,” Lowe said. “Thank God I followed my conscious and came back down.”