Momma's Ohio Piano (Primary Title)
Adger Cowans, American, born 1936 (Artist)
Cowans grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and attended Ohio University a few years after Clarence White Jr. established a photography program in the fine arts department there. Another founding member of Kamoinge, Cowans credits the formal critique process he learned at school for the model Kamoinge adopted when members presented their work to the group for discussion.
This photograph appeared without a title in the Annual, thus viewers would have missed the clearly autobiographical subject. Cowans’s mother was the church pianist, and as a teenager he played the trumpet with her. Although music offers the subtext for the photograph, it is a distinctly quiet work about memory and home.
"Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop", VMFA, February 1, 2020 - June 14, 2020
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