House and Car near Akron, Alabama

“Everything that means anything to me—morality, integrity, close family ties, my heritage, the land—comes from the South, from the place where I grew up.”

–William Christenberry, The Washington Post, April 24, 1983

Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, William Christenberry is a pioneer of color photography best known for his photographs of central Alabama. Although he has lived in Washington, D.C. for decades, he has made numerous annual trips from his home to the land of his youth, often photographing the same subjects year after year. His photographs record the changes in buildings and places from his childhood, while more broadly documenting a disappearing way of life. In 1994, he explained, “I guess somebody would say I am literally obsessed with that landscape where I am from. I don’t really object to that. It is so ingrained in me. It is who I am. The place makes who you are.”