Following Christenberry

Several years ago, I found this rather stunning church around Moundville, Alabama. It wasn’t until later that it dawned on me that I’d seen it many times before; William Christenberry had photographed it for decades.

It’s been abandoned for some time and obviously today without any intervention is in its worst shape ever. Being open to the elements, it’s only a matter of time before there’s some heavy equipment in the lot, taking care of leveling it off. Or maybe it will be left to continue to simply fall away.

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Here, a couple of images from my 2013 visit

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So often in gallery catalogues or museum labels, it’s simply referred to as Church, Near Moundville, Alabama. A few examples of Christenberry images of the church:

1972 at the Phillips Collection
1976 at the Whitney
1990