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Straight Into Darkness: A Talk on Southern Gothic Photography
Thursday, January 29, 2026
Reception: 5:30 p.m. | Talk: 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. | Q&A: 7:00–7:30 p.m.
Pensacola Museum of Art
Description
The UWF College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities invites you to an evening with Richard McCabe, Curator of Photography at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, as part of the 2025–2026 Gulf Coast Culture Series: Pensacola Noir.
McCabe’s presentation, Straight into Darkness: Southern Gothic Photography, traces the development of Southern Gothic imagery from the 1930s to the present. Highlighting the work of photographers such as Clarence John Laughlin, William Christenberry, E.J. Bellocq, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, William Eggleston, Sally Mann, Mike Brodie, and RaMell Ross, McCabe examines how light and shadow shape our understanding of the South’s beauty and complexity.
Drawing from his background as a photographer, writer, and curator, McCabe connects Southern photography to its literary and cinematic roots in the works of Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, and films such as Deliverance and Cape Fear. His talk explores how the region’s stories of darkness, contrast, and redemption continue to shape its artistic identity.
Since 2011, McCabe has curated more than forty exhibitions for the Ogden Museum, including New Southern Photography and Memory is a Strange Bell: The Art of William Christenberry. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Time, and NPR.
Cost
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is highly recommended. Register here!
The Gulf Coast Culture Series is presented and sponsored by the UWF College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. It is also funded, in part, by the John C. Pace Symposium Series.
Audience
Content Advisory: This event's photography presentation includes images that depict themes of death and the human body, which some viewers may find sensitive.
