A native of Hale County, Alabama, William Christenberry moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1962, after accepting a teaching position at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis). He lived there for six years. In 1966, he borrowed a 35 mm camera from his close friend, photographer William Eggleston, and produced this previously unseen series of photographs of storied Beale Street, an epicenter of blues culture. In the 1960s, though, Beale Street was in decline and many of its famous clubs, restaurants, and stores closed up shop, a state reflected in part by these photographs. As with his images made in and around Hale County, for which Christenberry is most famous, these photographs of signage, typography, and elements of vernacular architecture derive meaning from the modest features of everyday life. Although much of his oeuvre as a photographer, painter, and sculptor focuses on rural Alabama, this early series demonstrates Christenberry’s uncanny ability to unearth significance from the quotidian, regardless of time or place.

To see more photographs by William Christenberry and to read his accompanying essay on Memphis circa 1966, you can purchase the Summer issue of Aperture magazine by clicking here.

All photographs Beale Street, Memphis, 1966
Copyright © William Christenberry