A dreamy road trip through the Mississippi Delta
- Text by Miss Rosen
- Photography by William Eggleston

Hailing from Memphis, Tennessee and raised in Sumner, Mississippi, American photographer William Eggleston is a poet of the American South. His vivid images of daily life helped establish colour photography as a medium of fine art during the ’70s.
Gallerist Rebekah Jacob also grew up around the Mississippi Delta, and recalls seeing the photographer in her youth. “Eggleston was somewhat ethereal but evident in the Delta, cruising around and taking pictures,” she recalls.
“You would often see his car perched just off the road and sometimes spot him walking along the paved roads or wandering out in the fields. Some thought he was crazy, others didn’t care to wonder. But it was strange to see anything other than field hands or farmers speckled out in the middle of cotton fields. And there he was, sweeping a camera and capturing the soul of the land, in perfect aperture.”

Minnows (On Highway 61 through the Mississippi Delta), 1972

Farm in the Mississippi Delta, 1970
While many dealers and collectors chase Eggleston dye-transfer photographs, Jacob prefers to focus on his chromogenic work: the intimate, small format images the artist made while exploring rural towns along the Mississippi River. In the new exhibition, William Eggleston’s Snapshots — the c-print, Jacob spotlights these intuitive interpretations of the land they both share.
“Eggleston was a link from the early 20th century artists to the present, modernising the medium in terms of printing and the use of colour,” Jacob says. “Although innovating the medium, he carried the voices of the Delta with integrity, patience, and sensitivity. He photographed the place and its peoples by sweeping the camera, so it has always been fascinating to see ‘my land’ variously angled and tightly formatted – like riding in a car with your head titled against its window.”
Jacob met Eggleston while earning a Masters in Art History at the University of Mississippi, popularly known as “Ole Miss.” “Mr Eggleston arrived true to his reputation,” she remembers. “A southern aristocrat, he was dapper, wearing a high-end sports coat, buttoned shirt, and slacks. He was polite yet mercurial.”

Dolls, Memphis, Tennessee, 1972

Hanover Sign, Oxford, Mississippi, 1971
“He walked in with a small stack of photographs and placed them on a positioned table. He seemed to be magnetised by the piano, another mastered medium and passion. His innovative arrangement of classical music, played by memory with no score, echoed throughout the space so that few words could be heard, but our eyes were in sensory overload.”
Although many critics outside the South didn’t understand what Eggleston was doing at the time, Jacob recognises the significance of his work as a documentarian of a new typography of the South in the 1970s. “He worked to capture the loneliness, isolation and changes brought about by suburbs and other physicalities of American society and culture,” she says.
“New suburbia was descending upon the South at the time, and Eggleston expressed this changing South by focusing on parking lots, shopping malls, neon signs and other ordinary objects in a consumer world. Eggleston is considered a titan in the photography world – a photographer with a pioneering eye for capturing beauty in the ugly and mundane.”

Gulf Sign (Mississippi Delta) from Southern Suite, 1972

Untitled (Martin Luther King, Robert F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy ; decanters in bar), 1972

Near Minter City and Glendora, Mississippi (Mississippi Delta), 1969-70
William Eggleston’s Snapshots — the c-print was on view at the Rebekah Jacob Gallery.
Follow Miss Rosen on Twitter.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Latest on Huck

Plestia Alaqad: “Journalists should focus on humanising people”
Huck’s April interview — Having become one of the most crucial and followed voices from inside Gaza in the aftermath of October 7, the award-winning author and journalist is releasing a new memoir, ‘The Eyes of Gaza’, collating diary entries made over the past 18 months. We caught up with her to hear more about it.
Written by: Isaac Muk

The instrument makers taking DIY music to a whole new level
What does it take to construct a modular synth? How do you turn a block of wood into a double bass? Here, four craftspeople explain why they chose to rip up the rulebooks and build their own music-making machines.
Written by: Daniel Dylan Wray

Southbank Centre reveals new series dedicated to East and Southeast Asian arts
ESEA Encounters — Taking place between 17-20 July, there will be a live concert from YMO’s Haruomi Hosono, as well as discussions around Asian literature, stage productions, and a pop-up Japanese Yokimono summer market.
Written by: Zahra Onsori

In 1971, Pink Narcissus redefined queer eroticism
Camp classic — A new restoration of James Bidgood’s cult film is showing in US theatres this spring. We revisit its boundary pushing aesthetics, as well as its enduring legacy.
Written by: Miss Rosen

As amapiano goes global, where does it leave its roots?
Rainbow grooves — Over the past decade, the house music subgenre has exploded into a worldwide phenomenon. Jak Hutchcraft went to its birthplace of Mamelodi, South Africa, to explore its still-thriving local scene.
Written by: Jak Hutchcraft

Clubbing is good for your health, according to neuroscientists
We Become One — A new documentary explores the positive effects that dance music and shared musical experiences can have on the human brain.
Written by: Zahra Onsori