Neal Slavin: Groups in America

Neal Slavin (American, b. 1941) is a celebrated photographer, well known for his keen portraits of various groups of people in the United States and abroad. Slavin finds the group setting a rich subject matter for exploration. He states, “My work is about that communal thing that happens between people when they get together and they put on their public persona as opposed to their private persona.” 

Because the photograph focuses on more than one person, the portraits can be investigated like maps, as connections are made between faces and bodies and connected to the larger whole. This installation of Neal Slavin’s Groups in America represents a portfolio of 15 photographs from 1979; the portfolio is a significant gift to Telfair’s contemporary photography collection and will be on view in its entirety for the first time. Given their documentary style, Slavin’s images document specific subcultures, ultimately moments offering insights into various slices of American life during the 1970s, using humor to state what it means to belong.

Exhibition overview from museum website