Fall 2022 Showcase Young

Altha Mae’s Place is a photographic documentary of my great-grandmother Altha Mae Vaughn and her sense of homemaking. The project was largely born from ritual: Each time I visited her on a day other than Sunday, my grandmother would pull out a large bag of keepsakes, typically photographs, and discuss each object with me. Now, as she ages, her movement is slower, and our days of rummaging have grown fewer. This mix of memory and mourning came together to form this project. The photographs are mementos of not only my grandmother’s inventory or my grandmother herself but also the thrill of seeing, of exploring a small apartment that serves a house of archives.

Jalon Young is a native of Oxford, Mississippi. He is an alumnus of Tulane University, where he graduated with a degree in English and Africana Studies. He is now a graduate in the Southern Studies program at the University of Mississippi, studying the legacy of Mahalia Jackson under the tutelage of W. Ralph Eubanks. A beginner in photography, Jalon wishes to capture memory, place, and kinship in his photographs.