Southern Agenda

Sound and Color


The forty-four photographs in Nashville’s Frist Art Museum’s Guitar Town: Picturing Performance Today exhibition look like they could bring down the house. Take photographer Angelina Castillo’s dynamic shot of pedal steel guitarist Luke Schneider, which uses six exposures to reverberate Schneider’s colorful likeness. “We chose photographers whose work goes beyond journalism and documentation,” says Frist curator Mark Scala. “They re-create the experience of music playing. It’s like synesthesia: being able to see music or hear colors.” On display through August—and running in conjunction with Storied Strings, an exhibition that tracks the guitar throughout art history—Guitar Town spotlights the mix of genres and venues in the city, including Ascend Amphitheater hosting Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard, and the Basement, with the Ivory Coast musicians Peter One and Jess Sah Bi. Scan the QR code beside each work and listen as the photos sing to life. fristartmuseum.org