“What’s Lost is Found” — Photographs of Hale County
For decades, photographers have captured Hale County in Alabama’s Black Belt. Photojournalist Walker Evans documented families there suffering from the Great Depression. Starting in the 1960s, Alabama-native William Christenberry took pictures of decaying buildings. Now photographer Lauren Henkin can add her work to the tradition.
Last year, Henkin spent a month in Hale County as an artist-in-residence sponsored by the Do Good Fund, which supports photography of the South. Some of those pictures will be displayed in an exhibit called “What’s Lost is Found.” It opens Friday at the Birmingham Museum of Art where she’ll also give a talk about the work.
Henkin spoke with WBHM’s Andrew Yeager.
Excerpts from the interview:
“What I was trying to avoid were some of the more stereotypical images of social and economic divide that you see a lot coming from the rural South and really just trying to explore what I found and to leave some ambiguity in the photographs so that the viewers could impart their own narrative.”
© Lauren Henkin
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 2015. 24×30. Pigment print
“I spent a lot of time in church, which is very unusual for me. I wouldn’t describe myself as a religious person. But what I started to see and I think this happens over a period of time…you start to see either certain colors or certain things or certain objects and then you become sort of drawn to those particular things.”
“I started noticing this element of spirituality almost everywhere from these wooden crosses that are in a barber shop window, to the light hitting a freshly dug grave, to the people.”
© Lauren Henkin
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. 2015. 24×30. Pigment print
“I was in one church service and the pastor kept saying, ‘The life of the flesh is in the blood. The life of the flesh is in the blood. The life of the flesh is in the blood.’ These are, honestly, phrases that I have never even heard before. And the more he said it, the more I started to think about these sort of bloodied roads, the animals that I saw. There’s one photograph of a deer head that literally had just been removed from the body. There’s this balance there between life and death that I haven’t felt anywhere else that I’ve photographed. That was amazing to me.”
© Lauren Henkin
By man his blood shall be shed. 2015. 30×24. Pigment print
“My camera is basically the same kind of camera that [Western photographer] Ansel Adams used except half the size. It’s a four by five, large format field camera. And it’s my favorite camera to use because I make the best pictures with it.”
“You see the image upside down, which for me actually helps because it completely abstracts the image. I can focus more on form than, like, this tree and how am I going to photograph this tree. I start to notice things around the tree and what’s happening in the foreground and behind it. It’s an interesting process. And it’s fantastic for starting conversations on the street.”
From chess to a medical mystery: Great global reads from 2025 you may have missed
We published hundreds of stories on global health and development each year. Some are ... alas ... a bit underappreciated by readers. We've asked our staff for their favorite overlooked posts of 2025.
The U.S. offers Ukraine a 15-year security guarantee for now, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday the United States is offering his country security guarantees for a period of 15 years as part of a proposed peace plan.
Genre fiction and female authors top U.S. libraries’ most-borrowed lists in 2025
All of the top 10 books borrowed through the public library app Libby were written by women. And Kristin Hannah's The Women was the top checkout in many library systems around the country.
Electric vehicles had a bumpy road in 2025 — and one pleasant surprise
A suite of pro-EV federal policies have been reversed. Well-known vehicles have been discontinued. Sales plummeted. But interest is holding steady.
Why do so many people ring in the new year on Jan. 1?
Much of the world follows the Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, who put the finishing touches on a Roman system that integrated ideas from other cultures.
Teens are having disturbing interactions with chatbots. Here’s how to lower the risks
Teen use of AI chat bots is growing, and psychologists worry it's affecting their social development and mental health. Here's what parents should know to help kids use the technology safely.
