USU Photography Professor Secures GEM Grant for Project About Alabama History
By Emma Lee |
LOGAN, Utah — USU Photography Professor Jared Ragland has been awarded the Grant-Writing Experience through Mentorship (GEM) grant to bolster his ongoing photography project, “What Has Been Will Be Again.”
According to Ragland, this work aims to trace historic routes connected to brutal colonial legacies across Alabama and how they intertwine with the ongoing impacts of marginalized communities in the state.
Ragland believes historical and photographic narratives have long failed to acknowledge the names, dates and places where violence occurred against African Americans, Indigenous people and members of the LGBT+ population. His photographs, accompanied by historicizing captions, will challenge this issue.
Notable locations such as the path of Hernando de Soto’s 1540 expedition, the Trail of Tears, and the Old Federal Road will be documented in his project.
“As a native southerner, I am drawn to the unique vernacular language and tradition of storytelling that exists in the American South,” Ragland said. “Both place and storytelling are fundamental contributors to the critical discourse about American national identity, and I often seek to combine my photographic interests with social science, literary and historical research methodologies to create possibilities for thoughtful narratives which engage the complexities of identity and history.”
Funding will support several weeks of photographing across Alabama during summer 2025, followed by the production of a printed portfolio of works to be used for exhibition, publication and application for future project funding.
Through the GEM grant, Ragland will receive mentorship from Shane Rocheleau, an acclaimed 2023 Guggenheim Fellow in Photography. Rocheleau's work aligns closely with Ragland's, as both artists engage with social issues through their photography, creating a dialogue that highlights the powerful connections between their subjects and the broader societal context.
“Certainly, the confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter movement, and seditious domestic terrorism marks our times as significant, but ‘What Has Been Will Be Again’ confirms that the isolation, socioeconomic inequalities, racism and marginalization we’ve witnessed is not unprecedented,” Ragland said. “Instead, it speaks specifically to our current moment while also illustrating the perpetuated use of segregation and sequestration in service of the pervasive myths of American individualism and exceptionalism.”
This commitment to societal awareness is evident in Ragland’s past work experience. Previously, Ragland served as a White House photo editor during both the Bush and Obama administrations. He has completed impactful projects for nongovernmental organizations in the Balkans and East Africa, and his visual ethnographic research has been published in major social science journals.
“As a concerned citizen and artist — and as a person of privilege — I have a responsibility to critically confront these problematic traditions while pursuing authentic, ethical relationships with the people and places represented in my pictures.”
Ragland uses this philosophy to guide his teaching at USU, supporting the Caine College of the Arts’ mission to help students realize their full creative potential as artists and citizens.
“Through the making, learning and sharing of images, students in the USU Photography program utilize photography as a tool for concerned citizenship, meaningful storytelling and impactful social change,” Ragland said. “The GEM grant not only advances the continuation of my practice by fostering impactful scholarly and artistic growth and positioning it for wider recognition, but also serves as profound example of the University’s support for our mission to lead creative lives marked by empathy, thoughtfulness and compassion.”
For more information about USU Photo, visit the website. To view works in “What Has Been Will Be Again,” visit Jared Ragland’s website or follow his Instagram.
WRITER
Emma Lee
Communications Specialist
Caine College of the Arts
(909) 670-3273
emma.lee@usu.edu
CONTACT
Jared Ragland
Assistant Professor of Photography
Department of Art + Design
(435) 797-1227
jared.ragland@usu.edu
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