The photographer blending 60s Southern Gothic and American politics

In Night of the Hunted, Henry dissects the genre of Southern Gothic, and transforms modern America into a world of old. In looking back at these trialling times of racial inequality, gender stereotypes and political unrest, Henry turns the lens onto the current crisis in the same country decades on.

Heading to Louisiana back in 2016 to “make the first of three Southern Gothic photographic stories set in the 1960s”, Matt Henry found himself and his work amidst a “deteriorating mood in the Republican heartlands.” Capturing the growing upset and attitude changes, Henry was shocked to see the mirrors of his current experience back to the issues of times long past. Explaining, “Donald Trump’s racially charged rhetoric and the Black Lives Matter protests against police killings were in full swing, and the Southern Gothic genre seemed relevant and well-equipped to tackle the bile, racism, and violence that had once blighted America’s landscape.”

With midcentury America as his backdrop, Matt Henry sought out the Southern Gothic works – from William Faulkner to Flannery O’Connor – and emulated their unflinching portrayal of racism. Upon his return to the States for his second series, Henry was met with Trump Vs. Clinton in Texas. Deciding that “the nation was in dire need of a reminder of the Sixties and its tumult”, the photographer saw more reflections of history, thinking of how “the Ku Klux Klan had terrorised black communities in the Deep South during the 1950s and 1960s, targeting Civil Rights activists in particular with violence, intimidation and assassination, which included two decades of fire bombings.”

By the time of his third and final visit, Trump had been elected. Matt Henry explained how it felt to create art at this time: “I began my project disturbed by the extrajudicial police killings, and the rhetoric of Trump, but still wondering whether trawling through all the Civil Rights era stuff was a little anachronistic. By the time I reached the second story it was very clear that looking back was exactly what we needed to do.”

Take a look into the series below, and help Matt Henry get it published through the Kickstarter here.