Click on each image for a narrative about the photograph.
![Barber Mirror ©Owen Murphy I was just beginning my life as a photographer and reading everything I could about the history and the icons of the medium. I was living in San Francisco at the time, ignorant of what themes to develop. I always had a camera with me and years later I discovered the real meaning of what I was creating.](https://i0.wp.com/www.sxsemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Murphy_Barber-Mirror.jpg?w=416&h=416&crop=1&ssl=1)
![El Cristo ©Owen Murphy Mexico’s history of ritual sacrifice is always present in depictions of Jesus. The agony of torture and mutilation is shown in full horror reinforcing the concept of sacrifice for a greater good. You would never see a crucifix, an image, or a statue in the USA that comes close to what you encounter in Mexico; blood, flailed flesh with bones showing through are too much for Americans who need to sanitize the idea of crucifixion.](https://i0.wp.com/www.sxsemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Murphy_Cristo.jpg?w=416&h=416&crop=1&ssl=1)
![The Conversation ©Owen Murphy The woman was part of a large group of protestors who arrived every day to stand around the plaza in front of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. A governor of one of the states had defrauded the campesinos from many villages and to bring the fact to light and seek compensation they chose to stand naked, hand out information sheets and chant to anyone who passed by. The men wore small placards with the governor’s face over their genitals while the women, in one of the most modest countries imaginable, stood completely without clothes.](https://i0.wp.com/www.sxsemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Murphy_The-Conversation.jpg?w=836&h=836&crop=1&ssl=1)
![The Conversation ©Owen Murphy The woman was part of a large group of protestors who arrived every day to stand around the plaza in front of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. A governor of one of the states had defrauded the campesinos from many villages and to bring the fact to light and seek compensation they chose to stand naked, hand out information sheets and chant to anyone who passed by. The men wore small placards with the governor’s face over their genitals while the women, in one of the most modest countries imaginable, stood completely without clothes.](https://i0.wp.com/www.sxsemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Murphy_The-Conversation.jpg?w=836&h=836&crop=1&ssl=1)
![Jimmy Dorsey ©Owen Murphy In the part of the New Orleans Creole neighborhood where he operated his saloon Mr. Jimmy was the master of his domain. He had seen it all and provided many options for people of color to escape from drudgery of their lives of working hard for low pay and enduring the institutional racism that surrounded them.](https://i0.wp.com/www.sxsemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Murphy_Jimmy-Dorsey.jpg?w=416&h=416&crop=1&ssl=1)
![Jimmy Dorsey ©Owen Murphy In the part of the New Orleans Creole neighborhood where he operated his saloon Mr. Jimmy was the master of his domain. He had seen it all and provided many options for people of color to escape from drudgery of their lives of working hard for low pay and enduring the institutional racism that surrounded them.](https://i0.wp.com/www.sxsemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Murphy_Jimmy-Dorsey.jpg?w=416&h=416&crop=1&ssl=1)
This exhibition gave me the opportunity to think of the various projects I’ve created over the years in a different way. Most images are seen in a particular context, where one photo is directly related to another to create a coherent narrative flow but this exhibition was not bound by typical guidelines. I felt free to choose images that I felt stood alone and did not need a specific context, like place, a particular era, subjects related to events or cultural or current topical themes.
The evolution of how images are linked or sequentially presented has changed for me. While I do work along the traditional methods of context, presentation and images related to themes, I have begun to think of my photographs as poems that allow me to create a very personal relationship with the images, hopefully these ideas and feelings translate to the viewer but when taking chances with intent the end result can never be calculated or predicable.
The images presented are from two extended life projects, “Creoles of Louisiana”, who reside in different parts of the state of Louisiana and is about a culture of mixed ancestry that Louisiana is well know for and stretches back to the origins of the state. “El Viajero” (The Traveler) is about visits to Mexico over several decades and is more about what I discovered over the years as a traveler; one who moves about and through a vibrant and beautiful country and discovers something not only about the place but as importantly, about oneself.
Owen Murphy, Sept.10, 2021
featured image credit: Manuel – He taught Spanish to many people who lived in Mexico and the town of San Miguel de Allende. I was drawn to the monumental nature of his head, which reminded me of monolithic Rapa Nui heads of Easter Island. ©Owen Murphy
Bio:
Owen Murphy Jr. is a freelance documentary, born and raised in New Orleans. After living in New York City and San Francisco, Murphy returned to New Orleans in the mid 70’s to begin his photographic career. He helped create New Orleans’ first photographic cooperative, The Photo Exchange, and embarked on a lifetime of exhibiting personal work, teaching, and establishing a professional commercial business. He is a recipient of a Photography Fellowship from the State of Louisiana in 1998. In 2006 he received grants from the Joe and Dorsett Brown Foundation, the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center Katrina Art Fund, and the State of Louisiana Cultural Initiative. His work is in numerous private collections as well as those at the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Louisiana State Museum, the Roger Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Historic New Orleans Collection.
In 2006, he co-founded the New Orleans Photo Alliance, a non-profit arts organizations, and was the first president of the Alliance, crafting it’s bylaws, filing for it’s 501(c)(3), securing it’s first exhibition gallery, and providing leadership for the first 2 years.
Contact Information:
www.owenmurphyphotography.com
omphoto@mac.com
504-610-4899
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Nancy McCrary
Nancy is the Publisher and Founding Editor of South x Southeast photomagazine. She is also the Director of South x Southeast Workshops, and Director of South x Southeast Photogallery. She resides on her farm in Georgia with 4 hounds where she shoots only pictures.