In our summer 2022 issue, Southern Cultures grapples with the complexities of the South as a place of refuge and possibility.
”People are still searching for refuge and peace in the South, and people are still fighting to provide it.”
“The photographs render the walls of the sanctuary permeable, so much so that by sitting with the images and following Watson’s and Parks’s paths through them, we too find ourselves on holy ground.”
"I use paint, ink and canvas, paper and other surfaces to visualize that which remains after my body moves to the sound of the music and of praise, to more fully consider residue—lingering—that escapes capture.”
“He listened ravenously to our every answer, listened as if his life depended on it. And that, it turns out, is precisely the thing: it does."
"This mutual aid work is mutual. We sustain one another, we stand in intergenerational solidarity, we redistribute wealth beyond capital, and stand fully present to one another.”
“Sanctuary is the place where you are safe, where you are at ease, where you are known and knowing."
“Eight hundred miles or so west of the South Texas border, I also found the perfect place for me.”
“‘We don’t get where we are without a cost. Freedom is never free. So, we saw the church go up in flames and fall down in ashes.’”
“Over four decades later, the existence of this archive allows us to contemplate and discuss what light these resolanas of the past shed on our present. It provides an important opportunity for collective memory to speak."
“I’ve never seen people watch a fire with as much sadness / as my father’s family / when they were celebrating."
