Expanded Perspectives on City of Savannah, Georgia

I just added 3 images to a new FAA collection called Sojourns in Cosmopolitan Multicultural Savannah. Because the city is an odd mixture of diverse cultures framed within some intense southern history, the text provides a bit more background than what is used for most collections. They are, beginning with the description for the collection itself, as follows:

Sojourns in Cosmopolitan Multicultural Savannah: https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/posteredchromatic-poetics.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=726286

Savannah, Georgia (USA), is a city of many cultural expressions and historical influences. It is one of America's original 13 colonies and often appears on lists of top tourist destinations.

This image gallery features fine art photographic images and digital creations in both color and black white. It showcases a unique perspective on various popular sites of historical and sociological significance. In some cases, the images underscore rarely-discussed issues evolving around racial tensions and the so-called wealth divide.

IMAGES


OWENS-THOMAS HOUSE IN SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

Built in 1817-1819, the Owens-Thomas House mansion is part of the Telfair Museums complex and a National Historic Landmark building. It is often described as one of the finest examples of Regency architecture in the United States and when designed and constructed, by architect William Jay, was considered extremely sophisticated.

It is prized today by historians and tourists as a prime example of an urban antebellum structure where slave quarters remain intact behind the main building.

At a time (the 2010s) when large numbers of Savannah's indigenous African-American population are falling prey to gentrification, the elegant mansion is also an important reminder of how far they have come since the American Civil War.


EUGENE TALMADGE MEMORIAL BRIDGE THE MORNING AFTER HURRICANE MATTHEW

Commonly referred to as the Savannah Bridge, the Eugene Talmadge Memorial Bridge was named after a former governor of Georgia. The name is an extremely controversial one because although rightly lauded for his labors on behalf of many, Talmadge was also known to have been an unapologetic white supremacist. Various campaigns to have the name changed have failed but various advocates of diversity and multiculturalism continue to encourage awareness and change.

The photographic image seen here was taken Oct 8, 2016, the morning after Hurricane Matthew swept through the area. The seagull silhouetted near center foreground atop a post held still just long enough for this shot be taken and then flew off.
This is dedicated in memory of the late photographer Jack Leigh, who was a native of Savannah and a master of black and white photography.


THE HURRICANE AND THE CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS

One of the city of Savannah's most admired public spaces, Forsyth Park, became a devastated landscape after the edge of Hurricane Matthew swept through the city on October 7 and 8, 2016. The giant toppled tree seen in this image was one of many that transformed the normally garden-like tranquility of Forsyth Park into something more like a foreboding swamp or a war zone.

The park was the location of an important campground during the American Civil War. That historical footnote is commemorated by the tall fenced-in Confederate Monument framed by the clearing sky, and the smaller bust of Confederate Army Major General Lafayette Laws.

The abundance of monuments documenting history considered important to Southern Whites in contrast to the paucity of such monuments acknowledging the city's large African-American population's accomplishments has long been a source of political and social contention.

Aberjhani

(blog photo of Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences museum building by Aberjhani)