Nashville's Diverse Music Scene Celebrated in Exhibition of Works by Ten Local Photographers

The Frist Art Museum presents Guitar Town: Picturing Performance Today, a group photography exhibition that celebrates the diversity and energy of Nashville's music scene through images of guitar players performing in venues across the city and elsewhere.

Featuring work by ten Nashville-based photographers, the exhibition will be on view in the always-free Conte Community Arts Gallery from April 21 through August 20, 2023. It is presented in conjunction with Storied Strings: The Guitar in American Art, on view in the Ingram Gallery from May 26 through August 13, 2023.

"Within the complex cultural landscape of Music City, it is hard to imagine a subsidiary nickname more applicable than 'Guitar Town'," writes Frist Art Museum chief curator Mark Scala.

"Within our vast ecosystem of guitarists, collectors, luthiers, and venues are the music journalists and photographers who inform us about happenings around town. This exhibition allows us to honor their creativity."

Highlighting a variety of musical styles and attitudes, the photographers in this exhibition employ dramatic angles, surprising cropping, and hair-trigger responses as they capture essential moments in each performance.

Guitar Town features the work of Angelina Castillo, Lance Conzett, Steven Cross, Emma Delevante, H.N. James, John Jo, Laura E. Partain, John Partipilo, Jenni Starr, and Diana Lee Zadlo. Their work has been published both locally and nationally in outlets including the Nashville Scene, The New York Times, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and the Tennessean.

Through images of musicians including Ariel Bui, Sierra Ferrell, Brittany Howard, Marty Stuart, William Tyler, Adia Victoria, David Rawlings, and Jack White, the exhibition demonstrates how the performers' self-presentations-clothing, hair, stance, and facial expressions-provide visual links to the music they are making, bringing viewers into the room with the audience to share a visceral experience.