MISSISSIPPI DREAM

Larry Niehues on capturing the soul of the Magnolia State and celebrating the culture of the USA’s Deep South

- Kim Bunermann

Located in the Deep South of the United States, the state of Mississippi, also known as the ‘Magnolia State’, is rich in history, not least for being the birthplace of the Delta blues. During the American Civil War, black soldiers reinvented former slavery songs and created the precursor of what we now know as ‘the blues’. This new music was inspired by a combination of musical cultures, where African-American elements were mixed with the instruments and scales of the country music of the time. This eclectic mix of cultures eventually led to the blues, a music genre that has inspired artists and movements all over the world.

But Mississippi isn’t just famous for the blues – it also has a long history of social justice movements and was the centre of the civil rights movement in the South. Fascinated by the Mississippi Delta region, French photographer Larry Niehues set himself the task of documenting this culture in all its facets. Though Niehues grew up in a small town in the south of France, his interest in US culture led him to publish his first book in 2019, Nothing Has Changed – Portraits of the US. As a follow-up, Niehues embarked on a journey with writer Brooks Gallo to produce Mississippi Dream (published by Lannoo Publishers), which captures life in the US state from a contemporary perspective.

His photographs include snippets of everyday life in the state – performances from blues legends at iconic clubs and juke joints but also Baptist traditions. These shots were taken during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, offering nostalgic and surreal images in Niehues’s unmistakable style.