Drawn to water:
Water calls to us as human beings, perhaps because we are mostly made up of the stuff. It shapes the land and makes life livable. We are drawn to water for many reasons: for our health and survival, for spiritual rites and rituals, for athletic endeavors, and often for the pure pleasure of social engagement. Water cleanses and invigorates. In the heat of a southern summer it cools us and acts as a social focal point. Water attracts every race and social strata. It can be a place of isolation and lone meditation or a location where one lets down one’s guard, along with much clothing, and rub shoulders with complete strangers. Water motivates us to dare and it will cushion our fall.

Having spent 30 years away from my native state, I returned to North Carolina in 2012 with an idea to rediscover this beloved place with fresh eyes. I found myself drawn to the old landmarks that have remained the bookmarks of my memory and discovered that a common thread among them was water. My youthful fantasies were of Huck Finn floating down the Mississippi and my realities were tubing down mountain streams in water so cold it turned your lips blue. I did build a raft once…it sunk. Water flows down out of the Blue Ridge mountains and finds it way to the Atlantic ocean. It meanders its way across my southern landscape. Undeniably, water stands at the center of myriad political and environmental debates, however my interest in these images is to examine the social significance of water in our lives. These photographs capture the variety of human interaction found around beaches, lakes and quarries, along rivers, waterfalls and swimming holes.

-Bryce Lankard

Katherine Gray

Click here for a link to the video of the show installation and artist's talk.

Southern Cultures, Summer 2016: Published by the University of North Carolina Press for the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Click here for a short video of the wonderful photo essay published in the summer issue of "Southern Cultures" by the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Flanders Gallery, Raleigh, NC, October 2016

Drawn to Water was a featured solo exhibition at Flanders Gallery in Raleigh, NC during the 2016 Click! Photography Festival.

Thumbnail images of various photo locations linked to a map of Hydrography throughout the state of North Carolina.

Drawn to Water, SE Center for Photograpy, Greenville, SC 2018

I am so grateful to Michael Pannier at the SE Center for Photography in Greenville, SC for having Drawn to Water at his fabulous space in 2018.