State of the Blues

Jeff Dunas.
KEVIN "KEBMO" MOORE, 1996.
Gelatin silver print.

State of the Blues: The Living Legend of the Delta pays homage to the living legends of the Mississippi Delta blues through a series of intimate portraits. Through the luminous photography of Jeff Dunas, State of the Blues is an important exhibition honoring the men and women who have made this art form so powerful. The inspirational tradition of the Delta blues-an African-American musical legacy that has influenced almost all forms of contemporary music-has been preserved in our time by such luminaries as B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Charlie Musselwhite, and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.

With universal resonance, the blues makes poetry of sorrow and finds humor and bitter irony in the hardships of life. It tells of loves lost and regained, of the endless struggle to put food on the table, and of the fight for dignity in a world that judges people by the color of their skin. Alongside these portraits, Dunas has documented the landmark juke joints and byways of the Blues highway, a heritage trail that runs from New Orleans through the Mississippi Delta to Chicago.

State of the Blues is the most comprehensive portrait of this enormously influential art form. A hardcover book and paperback catalog by the same title (1998) published by Aperture Foundation, includes photographs by Jeff Dunas, interviews with leading blues performers, a preface by John Lee Hooker, and an introduction by William Ferris.

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