Portrait of a creative space: The studio of David Rae Morris

Willie Morris, the acclaimed author and publisher from Yazoo City, Mississippi, spent a lifetime spinning yarns about his home state. In works like My Dog Skip and North Toward Home, he captures the region’s unique people, places and events, warts and all. Like William Faulkner and Shelby Foote, he grapples with what he called ”the old warring impulses of one’s sensibility to be both Southern and American.”

His son, David Rae Morris, who lives in New Orleans, chose to tell a similar story, only using different mediums, including still images and video. Over the years, he has photographed the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill, Saints fanatics at Vaughn’s Lounge, jazz musicians, Mardi Gras revelers, athletes, local celebrities, friends and fellow artists. Most recently, he ventured up to his father’s old stompin’ grounds to shoot the documentary, Yazoo Revisited, which explores the legacy of segregation and integration in the Mississippi Delta. According to David, “Both New Orleans and Mississippi are very complicated. They are suffused with both history and beauty, but at the same time, tragedy and cruelty. They are a photographer and filmmaker’s dream.”

That dream is scattered all over David’s studio. The front room of his Bywater shotgun is filled with prints, some framed, some in plastic sleeves, some on the walls and some on a computer screen. Along with pictures, there are tripods, cameras, lenses, posters, CD’s, and, of course, autographed books by Willie Morris. When asked about his inspiration, David said, “There are enough stories to keep me occupied for the next fifty years – perhaps longer…” 

No doubt.

You can learn more about David Rae Morris and his work at http://www.davidraemorris.com. You can also follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.