Hampton University Museum Presents “Corapeake: A Small Community on the Verge of Change”

Hampton, Va. – Corapeake: A Small Community on the Verge of Change will be on display at the Hampton University Museum from June 5 – Nov. 23. Corapeake is a photographic exhibit by renowned photographer Kendall Messick representative of small town life in the South.

To launch the exhibit, the HU Museum welcomes Messick on June 5 from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.  The opening reception will feature Messick’s documentary, “Corapeake,” and the artist will be available to greet guests and answer questions.

Kendall Messick is an artist who constructs installations of still photography, film, video and an ever-evolving assemblage of two and three-dimensional media to capture stories that would otherwise go unheard.  Drawn to the stories of aging individuals often overlooked today, Messick became inspired after meeting Brenda Parker Hunt and hearing her recollections of the elderly residents of her hometown, Corapeake. These remembrances became Messick’s award-winning film “Corapeake” and eventually became an exhibition that has traveled nationally.

Corapeake, N.C., is both unique and fundamentally representative of small towns all over the South.  Located in Gates County, Corapeake is geographically, economically and socially as isolated as any part of rural America.  Bounded to the north by the Virginia state line and to the west and south by the Chowan River, the area’s most distinctive feature is the large National Wildlife Refuge to the east, aptly named the Great Dismal Swamp, consisting of 107,000 acres of forested wetlands.

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