Ashleigh Darnell is a photography senior at Belmont University’s Watkins College of Art. The title of her debut exhibition, Ugly Women, may find veteran gallerygoers expecting a feminist deconstruction of contemporary beauty standards, but Darnell isn’t so predictable. This collection of candid portraits and down-home exteriors is focused on Stuart’s Smokehouse and Seafood — a dive bar nestled in the woods near the Greenbrier River, just outside of the small town of Alderson, W.V. Darnell’s title refers to a sign in front of the establishment that reads: “Warm Beer. Cold Food. Ugly Women.” Stuart’s is the local hang for a community of boomer barflies with irreverent senses of humor and the Southern hospitality to let a newbie photobug lens them in their natural environment. Darnell grew up in the area, and this exhibition is a celebration of her roots that documents an Appalachian subculture of colorful characters bonding over pool tables and barbecue, and not particularly concerned with passersby who lack a sense of humor. I’ve taken Southern art seriously enough to write about it for a few decades, and I know its sense of humor is as essential as its sense of place. I can assure you, dear reader, the most serious art is the art that doesn’t take itself so seriously. Ugly Women is gritty and greasy, smoky and sweet.
Through May 8 at Watkins Art Gallery at The Packing Plant
507 Hagan St.
