Grace Wood, a Georgia College & State University alumna, has partnered with Allied Arts to display her work in a guided exhibit in The Marlor House.
“Well, we worked with Grace when she worked with The Union Recorder when she was doing photography for them and stuff like that,” said Kristin Allen, Allied Arts program and marketing coordinator.
“So, we came across her on Facebook, and I saw that she was doing an exhibit up in Gainesville.
And I expressed interest in wanting to exhibit her too.”
Wood got her start in photography at 13 years old after being introduced to her uncle Joe at a family reunion by her mother.
“She (her mother) had only found out recently that he was a civil rights photographer,” Wood said. “Probably around 1963, in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. He had photographed Martin Luther King Jr. and other historic events and that was like really cool to me.”
Grace used film and digital cameras to capture the photographs for this exhibit. The pictures consist of a multitude of works from her time as a student, with many being black-and-white images.
Much of her work was inspired by her favorite photographer, Sally Mann, and her favorite artist, Johnny Cash.
“I was kind of inspired by the dark themes of the South,” Wood said.
“I like to go out and take pictures and see what I can capture.”
The exhibit has 16 pieces of Wood’s work.
Two of these photos were taken in Rose Hill Cemetery. Both are wide shots of the cemetery in black-and-white and are titled “Unnamed” and “Unnamed II”.
Another piece is made of in-color photographs of Graces' grandmother, sister and herself. It is titled “The Graces” and is stop four on the tour. The piece was inspired by the work of Frida Kahlo and mimics some of her work.
The main part is that Grace and her sister posed similarly to Kahlos' “The Two Fridas.”
“Frida was known for having like a lot of health issues,” Wood said. “And both my sister and I struggle with anxiety and stomach issues because of that anxiety. I chose to photograph my grandmother as well for this to represent someone who kind of eases my anxiety and is a mentor figure to me.”
Wood is very excited to have her work shown in the exhibit and hopes many people come to see her work. Wood and her family will be at the reception on Feb. 14 at 5 p.m. to speak about her work and showcase it to those in attendance. The exhibit will stay open until Feb. 27 at 4 p.m.