Simple vs. Small

Over at The New York Times’ Lens blog, Whitney Richardson has a story up about Paul Kwilecki and his photographs of Decatur County, Georgia. Well worth a read and a walk through the gallery.

But it raises a couple of question that, probably, only I can answer … why did Mr. Kwilecki reach out to Duke University to help with his archive? I guess I know that answer – because the University of Georgia doesn’t have a photographic reputation. I want to change that so badly it hurts.

His work is exactly the sort of thing I want housed here, that I want to work with, that I want to help people see and discover.

“I am frequently asked by people who have not seen my work why I spend my life documenting one simple place like Decatur County, Georgia,” he wrote. “People confuse simple with small; they’re not the same thing.”

We may be a small program, but I certainly hope we are not simple.