Portraying distinctive impressions of Athens cultural history, Jason Thrasher’s art photography books Athens Potluck (2017) and Murmur Trestle (2024) take imaginative approaches to documenting their subjects. The two books, both of which have accompanying exhibitions currently on view, represent separate yet intertwined bodies of work that developed concurrently.
Athens Potluck creatively tackles the task of documenting Athens’ expansive and unwieldy music scene by asking each featured musician to invite the subsequent artist, and so on. The result is a chain of behind-the-scenes glimpses into the lives of local musicians that organically flows across genres and social circles.
“It could’ve been a million different books,” says Thrasher. “It could’ve gone in so many different directions.”
On view at the UGA Special Collections Building through Dec. 20, the exhibition “Athens Potluck” opens with an introductory room that includes a wall-spanning, sequential display of all 33 musicians who are featured in the book. Hanging on the opposing wall above a listening station, various band portraits further illustrate Thrasher’s deep connections within the local music scene.
From there, the multi-room show unfolds with large-scale portraits accompanied by paintings, illustrations, instruments, clothing and display cases full of handwritten Q&As, flyers, artifacts and all sorts of other memorabilia. Sourcing items from both the Georgia Music Collections at UGA Libraries and the personal collections of musicians, the exhibition was curated under the guidance of Jan Hebbard, exhibits coordinator, and Ryan Lewis, Georgia Music Collections coordinator.
The Hargrett Library will host a curator’s talk with Thrasher on Friday, Sept. 20 at 3 p.m. “Athens Potluck” will also serve as the theme to this year’s Free the Tapes event—an initiative through which the Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection digitizes audiovisual materials from community members—that will culminate with a family-friendly celebration on Saturday, Nov. 9 from 1–3 p.m.
On Saturday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m., the 40 Watt Club will host an Athens Potluck Variety Show that will double as a book release party for Murmur Trestle, co-presented by Avid Bookshop and UGA Press. Hosted by Master of Ceremonies Don Chambers, the evening will feature performances by many of the musicians who appear in Athens Potluck. The full lineup includes Mike Mantioni, Charlie and Nancy Hartness, Margo Rosenbaum, Jason Cade and Rob McMaken, The Darnell Brothers, Vernon Thornsberry and The Wild Gumbo, Andy LeMaster and Clay Leverett, T. Hardy Morris, Dave Marr, Thayer Sarrano and Daniel Ray. Attendees are encouraged to bring their favorite dish from Athens’ sorely missed vegetarian restaurant for a Grit-themed potluck. The event is also a benefit for Nuçi’s Space.
The final exhibition room of “Athens Potluck” is dedicated to photographs and memorabilia related to the Murmur Trestle, building a bridge over to Thrasher’s recently released book and upcoming exhibition dedicated to the local landmark. Forever immortalized in Athens music history after appearing on the back cover of R.E.M.’s 1983 album Murmur, half of the wooden 19th century train trestle was destroyed in 2002, and the other half was eventually removed in 2021, but its remnants were incorporated into the design for a pedestrian and bicycle bridge as part of the Firefly Trail.
Thrasher initially began photographing the trestle around 2011 after being hired by the Athens-Clarke County Government for a historic preservation shoot that involved capturing images from various coordinates. By his second or third visit to the deteriorating structure slowly being reclaimed by nature, he began to take an artistic interest and see its potential to become the subject of a photography book.
“When I first moved to Athens in 1994, there was an aesthetic that was really prevalent at the time,” says Thrasher. “I remember driving down Pulaski Street and seeing Stan Mullins’ warehouse and the train tracks and thinking ‘Wow, this is what I thought Athens would look like.’ Over the last 25 or 30 years, a lot of these things like the trestles have been cut and removed, warehouses have been destroyed, apartment buildings have been built. A lot of those things that felt like the identity of the South, and Athens in particular, were disappearing.”
Recognizing the trestle as a framework for a body of work exploring the “organized chaos” of nature and the changing Southern landscape, he steadily returned to the site across the seasons and over a span of six years. During the project’s first few months in particular, while having recently become sober and balancing the demands of parenthood, the trestle became a quiet spot where Thrasher could meditate, watch the sunrise and have a quiet hour or two to himself before diving into the day.
Published by UGA Press, the book features a forward from Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood, who moved to Athens within months of Thrasher and provides a nostalgic flashback, as well as an introduction by Thrasher’s wife Beth, who offers a window into the couple’s life together during the creation of the images. “Reason By Rot,” an original poem written by South Carolina author, poet, wildlife biologist and MacArthur Fellow J. Drew Lanham, relaxes readers into a peaceful, thoughtful state of mind from which to contemplate the photographs that lie ahead.
Photographs from Murmur Trestle will be exhibited this season at ACE/FRANCISCO Gallery, a space owned and operated by the Thrashers in the historic Leathers Building on Pulaski Street. The opening reception, slated for Thursday, Sept. 19 from 5–9 p.m., will also spotlight an exhibition of oil paintings by Toby Cole, on view upstairs in the gallery. Coming back full circle to the themed potluck at the 40 Watt, Cole’s portraits depict employees of The Grit.
With the stars seemingly aligning above the Leathers Building, several other galleries will host receptions this night. OX Fine Art will share a collection of paintings by the late Art Rosenbaum, who is featured in Athens Potluck. Tiger’s Eye Gallery will debut works on paper by celebrated poet Coleman Barks, alongside additional pieces by Jamie DeRevere, Mark Magnarella, Jessica Magnarella, Noah Mendelson, Ben Rouse and Marla Star. Revolution Therapy and Yoga will welcome visitors in to see archival prints of Manda McKay’s oil paintings, and ATHICA will stay open late for James Enos and Jess Machacek’s exhibition “How to Measure an Ocean.”
Events
Murmur Trestle Art Opening and Book Release Party
Thursday, Sept. 19, 5–9 p.m. at ACE/FRANCISCO Gallery
Athens Potluck Curator’s Talk
Friday, Sept. 20, 3 p.m. at Special Collections Library
Murmur Trestle Book Release and Athens Potluck Variety Show
Saturday, Sept. 21, 7 p.m. (doors) at 40 Watt Club
Murmur Trestle Talk
Oct. 9, 7 p.m. at Athens-Clarke County Library
Free the Tapes: Athens Potluck Edition
Saturday, Nov. 9, 1–3 p.m. at Special Collections Library
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