Leaving Hannibal, 2013. From photographer Kayla Huett's exhibit "We Catched Fish and Talked."
Dec. 19, 2018
Mark Twain’s masterpiece Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has long inspired the photography of Kayla Huett, BFA ’15, as she documents lives and landscapes in Southern Missouri. The title of the Poplar Bluff native’s latest collection, “We Catched Fish and Talked,” quotes Huck as he and Jim flee down the Mississippi River on a raft. Huett imagines the duo floating near her childhood home because, in the following chapter, they land in the river town of Cairo, Illinois, roughly 80 miles away. “This small section perfectly captures the tone that I have toward Poplar Bluff. A deep sincerity of its traditions, a humor for the people, and a deep beauty for where I came from,” Huett told the Southeast Missourian. Through the Art on the Move program, a partnership of the MU School of Visual Studies and MU Extension, Huett showed her work in August at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia. More: kaylareneehuett.com
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- Azalea Festival, Charleston, Missouri, 2018. In April, Azaleas and Dogwoods briefly awaken this reticent but fertile river town situated on the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. I watched the pig races with my mother and grandmother and looked around at the beautiful houses, hoping they will last another 100-year flood.
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- Rachael Cohen, Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 2011. Rachael Marie, who told us we are no longer able to seek shelter under the red carpeted pews of our youth? You have forgotten me but I often find myself staring at you. Dreaming who I would be if I had not left home.
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- Raccoon Hunting in the Ozarks 2013. Somewhere on the border of Kansas and Missouri, these unmarked country roads look familiar. When dusk came the dogs began to holler. I sat between unfamiliar men as they drove me to where I learned how to count shining eyes in the cottonwood trees.
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- “The vine that ate the South,” Le Grange, Missouri, 2013. The mosquitos kept me company as I traveled down the Great River Road from Lake Itasca to Cairo. I payed tribute to the casino dedicated to Clemens and the Heartland accepted me into her bosom once again.
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- Farewell to the Five and Dime, Dexter, Missouri, 2018. How better to understand a community than by its murals on Main Street. The tent revival across the street is replaced the next morning with the Stoddard County Fair. Neon lights whirl in the clear night sky as the holy rollers and cowboys both whisper an eight-second prayer.
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- Snow Goose, Hallsville, Missouri, 2011. It was the summer of the locust after their 19 year slumber Their rhythm carried through the 3 million acres of Mozark hills, and then we ate them in our ice cream.
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- Searching for Mushrooms, Big Oak Tree State Park, 2018. Where were you when the great river ran backwards? I saw an eagle perched on top of the tallest tree and searched for mushrooms on the forest floor. I searched and found the last piece of untouched land with Slippery Elm, Pumpkin Ash, Rusty Blackhawk.
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- Ode to My Home, Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 2011. Who am I to undertake the daunting task of describing a complex region full of Ghosts and Saints? Butler County, Gateway to the Ozarks, Home of the Mules. The lights of the football stadium shine brighter than the churches that surround it.
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- Onondaga Cave, 2018. People of the Mountain hear me sing. Show me the place where men of old wagered with their dilated pupils and stored their cold beer. I have never seen anything more beautiful than the blue of a hidden spring in the thick forest of the Ozark Hills.
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- Dad in the River, Doniphan, Missouri, 2013. As the current runs through this modest river town, my father and I whisper about the rising humidity and my grandmother’s declining health. We gauged the sunburns and alcohol content of the people floating past us and joined the rest of my family for a meal of fried catfish and watermelon.
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- Boomland Missouri, 2018. Down the River where Missouri meets Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, you can find the soul of the South, a place where you can buy discounted fireworks and cigarettes.
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- Wild Grape Vine, Lake Wappapello, Missouri, 2017. Lord protect me from the chigger infestations of my youth. A bleach bath to soothe my itchy ankles. Located under the bridge that marks the rising muddy river, the weather was ideal for morel mushrooms. Our eyes fixed on the forest floor bobbing our heads like chickens.
