The Drake by Tamara Reynolds
November 2nd - 30th | Opening Reception November 2nd, 1-9 PM
Untitled (The Drake Motel at night), 2022
COOP is pleased to present The Drake by Tamara Reynolds. The Drake is a series of portraits, still lives, and streetscapes documenting the lives of people existing just above survival on one square block around a motel in Nashville, Tennessee. This motel is located in an area ignored by developers, a microcosm of the disregarded or resentfully tolerated. Alcohol and drug addiction are prevalent among those who live in its shadow. Prostitution, panhandling, and day labor have become ways to maintain addiction.
The Drake offers a means to delve deeply into a world far removed from the artist’s but also perilously close — how her life might have looked had she not found the resources that led her to recovery. The work continuously challenges the concept of empathy and how to photograph subjects in such a way as to make the unseen seen. Reynolds is passionate in her intent to push back against a society of increasing culturally endorsed behavior to not acknowledge the marginalized. These are not easy pictures, but the hope is that the images give space for viewers to move closer, to enter the stillness of the photographs and consider the lives of those looking back.
Artist Talk: November 14th, 6-7:30 PM - In Conversation with Tamara Reynolds and Diana Burke of Thistle Farms - A discussion about addiction, recovery, empathy, and personal experiences at The Drake Motel and Magdalene House (Thistle Farms’ recovery program).
Diana Burke, a former resident at Magdalene House where she found a lifeline coming from the streets, finally providing her with a whole new life. Diana both lived and worked at The Drake when Reynolds was working on the series. She is 4 years sober now and is the plant manager at Thistle Farms product manufacturing facility.
A selection of Thistle Farms home and body care will be available for sale at the talk, all sales benefit women survivors.
More about the Artist
Tamara Reynolds is a documentary photographer whose unflinching eye considers what it means to be human in today’s society. In particular, her work focuses on the lives of those who are usually unseen. Reynolds’ photobook The Drake was published and released by Dewi Lewis in 2022. The Drake portrait work has received numerous honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the BarTur Photo Award, a Puffin Grant, the Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant and the Santa Fe Center Project Launch Grant. In addition to numerous exhibitions around the country, Reynolds’ photographs have been featured on the New York Times Lens Blog, PBS NewsHour, Lenscratch, Strange Fire Collective, Photo-Emphasis, Oxford American and FotoRoom, among others.
In 2017, she received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Hartford, where she graduated with honors. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Middle Tennessee State University. Prior to her current work in documentary photography, Reynolds worked as a commercial photographer for over 25 years. Along with working as an editorial photographer, she currently teaches as a Lecturer at Vanderbilt University and Adjunct Professor at Belmont University. Tamara Reynolds was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and has lived there all her life. www.tamarareynoldsphotography.com