Many people came out to Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience to see the new exhibit “Through the Looking Glass”.
“What you’ll fine is through their photography, you’ll see very real beautiful people,” says director of marketing Jerome Trahan.
“Through the Looking Glass” is a new edition to Meridian. This unique exhibit captures places, things and people that shows why Mississippi is so special.
“People will see pictures of cotton. They will see people of various generations, their surroundings, homes, expressions and I think they will see that there’s a lot of adversity in these pictures. That what makes Mississippi so wonderful,” says photographer Alysia Steele.
Author and photographer Alysia Steele says she takes pictures of people faces because it tells a story.
“When I am taking pictures, I am always focused on the eyes because the eyes tell the story as well as the body. I wanted people to really look into people’s eyes, examine their faces and really take in the fact that they’re human being. Their real people, they have real feelings, they have real experiences and real emotions,” says Steele
Steele also shares the untold stories from Mississippians in her work. One photo in the exhibit shares the emotional story of Darlene Longino who hated her father because he kept her out of school so she could picked cotton.
“My dad told us once is we picked 250 pounds of cotton he would not keep us out of school anymore. On the next day we went back, and I picked nearly 300 pounds of cotton and my dad kept us out of school the next day. During this time I missed a lot of school,” visitor Darlene Longino.
In spite of her father’s wishes, Longino was determined to finish her education and is getting her master’s in education at Jackson University.
We captured member’s reaction of the new exhibit.
“I really enjoyed listening to the different stories told by the individuals in regards to picking cotton,” says visitor Vinetta Brewer.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing. Our history is something that I’m learning about. It’s also something that’s great because our children don’t know our stories,” says visitor Ross Wright.
The exhibit will run through January 5th.
