Upstart, in partnership with Bastrop Association for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, Hyatt Lost Pines Resort, Forestar Real Estate Group, Aqua Water Supply Corporation and First National Bank, will display “Cajun Mardis Gras,” eleven haunting black and white photographs by Margaret Thomas. The exhibit will hang from May 15 to June 15 at the Upstart Media Arts Center (UMAC), 1800 Linda Street, Bastrop. It will be open every day but Monday from 2 pm to 6 pm and the public is invited to come.

But as a special highlight, Margaret Thomas will come to Bastrop to speak at the UMAC on May 20 at 2 pm on the subject, “Capturing Emotion in Photography.” Bastrop Community Access Television will tape this talk for Time Warner Channel 10. A reception and an opportunity to meet and talk to the photographer will be held afterwards.

The “Cajun Mardis Gras” photographs were taken in Eunice and Church Point, Louisiana. They depict the reenactment of a centuries-old tradition where poor people begged landowners for a chicken for the communal gumbo pot.

Margaret Thomas retired after a 40-year career with the Washington Post. Her pictures have won her numerous honors, including Photographer of the Year by the White House News Photographers Association. She is a Ph.D. candidate in photojournalism at the University of Texas. Her dissertation examines the history of American women photographers from a feminist perspective. Hers is an important voice in photography and Upstart is pleased to join with Bastrop Association for the Arts and Texas Commission on the Arts to sponsor her appearance. Approximately 1,000 of Margaret Thomas’ photographs and personal papers are archived at the Center for American History at UT Austin.

“What’s great about this exhibit,” says Carolyn Banks, Executive Director of Upstart, “is what it says about the support for the arts in Bastrop. Upstart and arts organizations and community businesses have joined together to bring these wonderful and important photographs here. It shows that we’re united in the notion of bringing art of national importance to our rural Texas town.”

For more information call (512) 303.1531

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