Wayne Sides will host a reception for the unveiling of his new photography series titled My Gaia, which will be displayed in the Elaine Bailey Augustine Art Gallery at the University of North Alabama.
Sides, a UNA Professor Emeritus who taught at the university for 26 years, has a strong background in photography, and he has had exhibits both nationally and internationally, earning him notoriety in the photography field.
Sides created this exhibit with history in mind. To him, the beauty of the natural world is full of history, and he believes it is important to honor that history through art.
Gaia, which is Greek for Mother Earth, references the mythology surrounding nature. To Sides, this mythology is important in understanding the way that other groups of people have experienced the world around them.
Sides got inspiration from the nature that exists around him – namely, the beauty that lies in his own backyard. He began to imagine the history of the area, thinking back to the Indigenous peoples who inhabited Alabama, and he wondered how they would have seen the world. This curiosity is what drove him to capture the landscape in images.
“I started thinking about around here, and there’s nobody to speak for these people that were here before us, and I mean way before us: thousands of years ago, there were people here that we now call Native Americans,” said Sides. “Their whole existence and the way they could see and feel nature is so totally different than how we are today. We’re so detached from those things. We don’t understand what they could see or feel. It was a whole different world.”
Combined with this attempt to travel back in time through nature, Sides has also created a time capsule of photographic techniques for viewers to learn from. From the oldest form of photography to the newest, Sides has created an exhibit that spans across most of the historical background of photography, adding yet another educational element to his work. He has also included photos from across his career, with some of his photos dating back to the 1990s.
“I’ve been a teacher my whole life,” Sides said. “I like doing it like this to start a conversation with students. It takes you back to understand the beginning of the craft.”
Sides will host a reception for the opening of his exhibit on Nov. 8 at 5 p.m. inside the gallery. At the reception, visitors can expect to hear Sides speak about his work and the story behind it. Poet Jeanie Thompson will also speak, reciting some of her poetry from Litany for a Vanishing Landscape, a collaborative piece which includes Thompson’s poetry and Sides’ photos.
“The opening is an introduction to the show,” said Thompson. “There will be these extra features, like me being there reading, but I would encourage people to come up to the gallery sometime when it’s empty, or when there aren’t many people, and see the work that way.”
Sides and Thompson invite those in the community to attend the opening reception or to stop by the gallery while the exhibit is still up to see a glimpse into Alabama’s powerful landscape.
“When you say the word ‘landscape,’ sometimes people think of a landscape painting, which is a static thing, but to me, and I think to Wayne also, the Alabama landscape has been a place to see, and think, and feel, and write, and photograph, as a very dynamic thing,” Thompson said. “I think both of us really love Alabama, and we want Alabama to produce as much art as it can possibly produce, because that’s the best thing, I think, that Alabama does. There are a lot of great things in Alabama, but [art] is a celebration of the heart and soul of Alabama.”
