Southern Rites

In 2002, photographer and filmmaker Gillian Laub traveled to Mount Vernon, Georgia, to document the lives of teenagers in the American South. Laub photographed surrounding Montgomery County over the following decade, returning even in the face of growing – and eventually violent – resistance on the part of some community members. Southern Rites, on view at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from Jan. 25-May 12, 2019, is a powerful and moving visual portrait of individuals struggling to confront longstanding issues of race and equality.