Chuck Davis

Visual representation by mass media has othered people of the Ozarks. Seeking to reverse hillbilly narratives, Chuck Davis (Lesley MFA alum 2019) has been awarded an Innovation Grant by Art+Everywhere to engage his local community in a celebration of the vernacular architecture of the Ozarks.

Ozark Giraffes are stone-stacked homes and community buildings made of humble means – and the focus of the Innovation Grant. Over the coming months of 2024, giraffe-styled buildings will be visually interpreted by regional artists and Lesley Art + Design graduates – including those who may travel to the Ozarks to participate.

The grant will enable art creation and community dialogue into Ozark ‘othering’ by popular media, from cartoon strips by Al Capp to Netflix’s series Ozarks. The art created by the community will be placed within the community, both outside (in non-traditional spaces) and inside (in traditional galleries).

For further information, please contact grant awardee Chuck Davis at chuck.davis@AkransasMomentos.com.

Artist Bio

Working in the Ozarks, Chuck Davis is an independent curator & photographer – a modern master whose reach spans broadly from large format film to 3D images to tintypes. His work critically observes Ozark history and the adjacent lands once described as Indian Territory. Since moving to Arkansas more than a decade ago, Chuck's subjects traverse inter-generational tensions of both new and native residents.

Chuck Davis earned a BAFA – (History of Photography) from the University of New Mexico, and an MFA in Visual Arts from Lesley Art + Design in Cambridge Massachusetts. He also studied Photojournalism at the University of Missouri, earning an A.B. Honors Interdisciplinary degree. In 2019 he completed a residency at Casa Ranzini in Sao Paulo Brazil, and in 2022 he was awarded an Arkansas Arts Humanity Grant. His work is in the collection of the Regional Art Museum (RAM) of Fort Smith Arkansas, and is held privately.

Headshot by Geoffrey Berliner – Penumbra Foundation