I rarely get to pay homage to my Kentucky roots with music or art, as most of the output from the region is pretty dreadful, but once in a while, I am reminded that some of the best work I come across, is from less celebrated people and areas of the world. On that note, I wanted to post the work of Ralph Eugene Meatyard, a Kentucky photographer who documented his own family from the 1950s until the 70s, by creating a series of photographs titled “The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater”. He created the work by getting his wife and kids to wear distorted rubber masks and oversize body parts in the role of the "Lucybelle Crater" family, a deep study into the proverbial masks of identity that we all wear, which end up looking like refugee members of the Texas Chainsaw family. The photos are both comical and strange, but well executed and seem to tap into the unsettling feeling that most epople have about country, mountain folk. A thorough book was published of the Crater images in 1974, by the Jargon Society, but is rare to come across these days. Check out some of the pics below!
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