Bruce West, professor of photography in the art and design department, is part of an exhibition highlighting the photography of Mississippi. The exhibit, “Mississippi Photographs 1860s-Present” is running in the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans through September 18. West attended the exhibition’s August 6 opening, which had several thousand attendees.

Described as a survey of Mississippi photography over the last 150 years, the exhibit includes work from West and other photographers such as Walker Evans, William Eggleston, and author Eudora Welty. West’s appearance in this exhibit represents the culmination of years of work spent documenting the state through photography; he began photographing there in 1994 while on his first sabbatical, and has returned annually to document the rural landscape and culture of the Mississippi delta area. West has produced two series out of this work: “Take Time to Appreciate” and “Spiritual Advisor to the World.”

“Being included in this particular exhibition is a very meaningful experience for me,” West says. “It is exciting and inspiring to be included in the company of so many respected photographers.”

West has been featured in exhibits both nationwide and internationally. In 2009, he served as visiting professor for a digital photography workshop at the University of the United Arab Emirates. He also has collections in the St. Louis Art Museum, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, and the Library of Congress. View West’s galleries at www.brucewestphotography.com.