Culture is synonymous with the practices of daily life, discovered in the multitude of everyday rituals and objects passed down from one generation to another. A new exhibition explores aspects of everyday culture through seven key projects by the pioneering cultural organization Documentary Arts, examining how film and photography can document marginalized cultural forms including tattooing, blues music, traditional crafts, and community photography.
Founded in Dallas in 1985 by writer, folklorist, photographer, and filmmaker Alan Govenar, Documentary Arts utilizes a wide range of media to catalyze creative activity, energize community engagement, and initiate social change around diverse cultures and regional heritage. The organization has developed folklore festivals, field recordings, radio programs, museum exhibitions, artist residencies in schools, public art projects, and off-Broadway musical theater productions.
These seven projects embody a unique approach to using cinema and photography to record and document marginalized cultural forms. A central question posed by these projects in the age of artificial intelligence is: what does "documentary" mean today? Can revitalized documentary approaches to traditional cultures re-establish rules, rooted in reality and socially engaged, of truth, evidence, and testimony?
Through its unconventional, sometimes iconoclastic approach, Documentary Arts adapts and nurtures a public discourse that broadens, humanizes, and illuminates our connection to everyday culture. The exhibition, titled "Everyday Culture: Seven Projects by Documentary Arts," is part of CPW's fall programs that explore memory, cultural identity, and daily life in the American South.
Among other exhibitions are "Kinship Community: Selections from the Texas African American Photography Archive," curated by Nicole R. Fleetwood, which highlights the work of Black Texas photographers in the mid-20th century and shows how vernacular images constitute powerful archives of collective memory. Another featured exhibition is "Rahim Fortune: Between a Memory and Me," which examines the stories and rituals shaping Black communities in the South.
These three exhibitions could not be more relevant today, as attempts to repair historical injustices are undermined by a politics of erasure. The exhibitions collectively offer a counter-narrative that preserves and celebrates diverse cultural experiences often overlooked by mainstream documentation.
A companion book, "Everyday Culture: Seven Projects by Documentary Arts" by Brian Wallis and Alan Govenar, published by CPW, will accompany the exhibition. The hardcover book measures 7.25 by 9.25 inches, contains 296 pages with 119 images, and is priced at $45. The publication date is set for September 20, 2025, with ISBN 9798999723000.
The exhibition "Everyday Culture: Seven Projects by Documentary Arts" runs through January 11, 2026, at CPW, located at 25 Dederick Street, Kingston, NY 12401. More information is available at www.cpw.org.
