Gallery Critiques

Student 13 Spring 2000

The Riverwalk exhibit displayed many photographs of the important rivers spread from the Souther Appalachians to the Coastal Plain. The photographer, Beth Maynor Young, has spent the last decade exploring these southern waters. Young's photographers focus on the fragility, beauty, and sacredness of the rivers. She asks the questions: How special are the southern rivers? What impact had 20th century development had on them? What shape will they be in for our grandchildren? The two photos I focused on were Lilies and Cold Autumn Morning of the Cahaba River in Alabama.

The Cahaba River is the longest free flowing river at 190 miles. This river bubbles an underground spring in the Appalachin foothills and rushes down the Piedmont Plateau. It empties into the Gulf of Mexico. A very important aspect of this river is that it supplies drinking water to one million people in the Birmingham area. The Cahaba is a home to many animals including salamanders and crayfish. Over 350 species of freshwater fish live there as well.

The photo of River of Lilies is a very calm and serene picture. The water is in pools around the bundles of lush vegitation in this part of the river. The green in this picture represents the growth and development of the plant life in and surrounding the river. The line presented here is, basically, vertical and horizontal. The vertical lines are the flowers and trees, which are stable in the life of the river. The horizontal lines indicate the calmness of the photograph. This exhibit illustrates realism. It also includes a touch of self-expressionism because the rivers are an interest of the photographer.

The second photograph, Cold Autumn Morning, is also very calm. The water is still and the sun is just peeking though an opening in the trees. There is a beautiful reflection of the trees on the smooth water. The lines of the trees are diagonal and pointing toward the sun. This represents the growth and life of the trees. This photograph is almost like a Taoist painting in that it focuses on the river and trees and not the fisherman and his small boat. The colors are yellow and green, as a Taoist painting would include as well. This photo also includes realism. These rivers are not only beautiful but they also do a lot for our ecosystem.

In 1998 , the World Wildlife Fund recoganized the Southern river system as one of the five most important biogeographic regions in the United States . People need to be educated of the importance of the rivers and keep pollution from becoming an even bigger problem.

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