Townes Ferry Pike

Townes Ferry Pike follows an imagined road through Middle Tennessee, tracing an emotional mapping of place while reflecting on how a Southern town is perceived through space and time.

Townes Ferry Pike began in 2022, when I first set out to photograph my new home of Middle Tennessee, unsure how long I’d stay. I was guaranteed only a semester when I first came here to teach. That quickly became a year, and now three have passed. A friend recently told me, “Home is hard to define for you these days.” He’s right. Still, this place has become a home. Over time, I’ve gravitated toward hidden pockets only locals would know: sites of tender embrace, quiet solitude, and transient joy.

I’m drawn to people who exude a palpable presence, whether through emotion, performance, style, or any combination of these qualities. More than anything, I seek breath in the image, moments where people communicate a love for life through their bodies. The portraits exist on the edges of society: wanderers, friends, and lovers set against engulfing natural settings or the quiet margins of small towns. Lately, I’ve been thinking about how space and time seem to collapse or blur here, and how this informs my images with a perception that both amplifies and contends with the mysticism of the South.

Townes Ferry Pike is an imagined road winding through a fictional town on the fringes of Shelbyville, McMinnville, Woodbury, Columbia, Murfreesboro, and the unincorporated communities in between. What compels me most about these towns is their indefinable, yet deeply felt, undercurrent, which pulls at me each time I return. I sense it as soon as I drive into town, start my walk along the river, or stop at the gas station. It’s this recognition that sparks a sustained engagement with the mysteries and nuances of everyday life. The images aren’t meant to construct a literal sense of place, but an emotional mapping of one, shaped by color, gesture, and the haziness of a never-ending summer afternoon.