What Has Been Will Be Again

Fall 2021

Jared Ragland’s ongoing photographic project, “What Has Been Will Be Again,” will be the focus of a digital exhibition and archive launching later this year. Over the course of a year-long road trip across Alabama, Ragland has poetically explored the complexities of his home state by documenting sites of historical significance and generational injustice.

“Alabama has known a deep and complex history – from Native American genocide to slavery and secession, and from the fight for civil rights to the championing of Trumpist ideology, the state has often stood at the nexus of American identity,” Ragland says. “By tracing historic colonial routes including the Old Federal Road and Hernando de Soto’s 1540 expedition, the project reckons a haunting yet tender look at Alabama’s troublesome past and tenuous present.”

This digital exhibition has been made possible by the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jared Ragland’s project, “What Has Been Will Be Again,” is made possible with the support of The Do Good Fund and the Magnum Foundation.