The South is a Place of Transformation

Valerie Cassel Oliver’s recent groundbreaking show at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, “Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse,” appeared in the wake of a year of protest across the United States. The exhibition’s emphasis on the interaction between popular culture, in the form of music and folk arts, and contemporary art suggested a broad interpretation of American culture. Art in America took the opportunity to speak to Cassel Oliver abo