Cassville photograph to be at MPW “Small Towns, Big Stories” exhibit
August 30, 2023
The above photo of Flora Mae Johnson, standing on the front porch of her Cassville farm in 1977, will be on display at the State Historical Society of Missouri exhibit, in Columbia, beginning in September. Photo by Phil Schofield.
By Adriana Keeton, [email protected]
The State Historical Society of Missouri will honor 75 years of Missouri Photo Workshop (MPW) photography in a “Small Towns, Big Stories” exhibit beginning in September and running through December 2023 at 605 Elm Street, in Columbia. The MPW is sponsoring the program in partnership with the Missouri Humanities with support from the Missouri Humanities Trust Fund.
The MPW, founded by Cliff Edom and residing at the Missouri School of Journalism, maintains the world’s most extended continuous photographic archive of rural America. A selection of over 120 images from 51 towns will be on display at the exhibit.
A photograph taken by Phil Schofield from MPW 29, taken in 1977, will be on display at the Cassville farm of Flora Mae Johnson.
Flora Mae Johnson was in her 80s and a recent widow. At the time, she was single-handedly maintaining the farm and the cow herd and doing all the chores.
“Once in a while, you find, or fall into, a subject that just clicks,” said Schofield. “She let me completely inside her life, and she was so beautiful, in the way living off the land sculpts you. There were memories of her late husband everywhere. She washed and put out his morning coffee cup every day and had a Sunday suit of his clothes laid out on the bed.
“Flora Mae Johnson had a lasting impact on my career as a photojournalist,” Schofield continues. “Throughout my 35-year career, meaningful photojournalism has, above all, been about gaining unrestricted access to people’s lives.” Legendary National Geographic photo editor (and 24-time MPW faculty member) Bob Gilka “took me under his wing after that workshop, and National Geographic kept me busy for the next 24 years.”
For more information on the Missouri Photo Workshop, visit www.missouriphotoworkshop.org.
The State Historical Society of Missouri will honor 75 years of Missouri Photo Workshop (MPW) photography in a “Small Towns, Big Stories” exhibit beginning in September and running through December 2023 at 605 Elm Street, in Columbia. The MPW is sponsoring the program in partnership with the Missouri Humanities with support from the Missouri Humanities Trust Fund.
The MPW, founded by Cliff Edom and residing at the Missouri School of Journalism, maintains the world’s most extended continuous photographic archive of rural America. A selection of over 120 images from 51 towns will be on display at the exhibit.
A photograph taken by Phil Schofield from MPW 29, taken in 1977, will be on display at the Cassville farm of Flora Mae Johnson.
Flora Mae Johnson was in her 80s and a recent widow. At the time, she was single-handedly maintaining the farm and the cow herd and doing all the chores.
“Once in a while, you find, or fall into, a subject that just clicks,” said Schofield. “She let me completely inside her life, and she was so beautiful, in the way living off the land sculpts you. There were memories of her late husband everywhere. She washed and put out his morning coffee cup every day and had a Sunday suit of his clothes laid out on the bed.
“Flora Mae Johnson had a lasting impact on my career as a photojournalist,” Schofield continues. “Throughout my 35-year career, meaningful photojournalism has, above all, been about gaining unrestricted access to people’s lives.” Legendary National Geographic photo editor (and 24-time MPW faculty member) Bob Gilka “took me under his wing after that workshop, and National Geographic kept me busy for the next 24 years.”
For more information on the Missouri Photo Workshop, visit www.missouriphotoworkshop.org.
