Mockingbird • The Brief Gallery • 238 5th Ave. N.

→ Photo Info (Here) Tammy Mercure Untitled. from "Big Rock Candy Mountain"
Tammy Mercure, originally from Iowa, is a one-time Tennessee transplant now living only a few miles across the state line in nearby Virginia. Her photographs in the show are from her body of work entitled, “Big Rock Candy Mountain” which traverses the highly developed kitsch personality present at the heart of Smokey Mountain tourist culture.

The girl with the birds is in a state of panic, joy, fear, and excitement all wrapped up within one youthful instance before Tammy’s camera. It is easy to be moved when seeing the image for the first time by a warm surge of empathic bliss. There’s an uncomfortability and awkwardness to her excitement within this moment of youthful exhilaration. Is the reality and power of youth better summed up with anything other than this reaction? The photograph lyricizes youth and all its passionate sincerity. The scene has the exuberance to incite anticipation of life’s unexpected first encounters and unforeseen adventures.