Sidewalk in Vicksburg, Mississippi 1936

Walker Evans made this photograph, Sidewalk in Vicksburg, Mississippi with his camera, in the middle of the American South. It’s a scene, a storefront, a car. It’s like a stage set, almost too good to be true. What was Evans thinking, making pictures like this? Did he feel exploitative, or did he feel he was recording something? The way the facade of the barber shop tilts, it’s almost like a painting, like he's trying to show how light and shadow creates form. Look at how the figures just sit there, so natural, like a posed tableau but not quite. The spokes of the wheels on that old car. The way the light hits the side of that building, bleaching it out. Maybe Evans wanted to show America the South, and the South, itself. It's a document, an artwork, and a space for reflection. It's all those things, all at once.