{"id":148632,"date":"2025-04-23T16:50:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T21:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=148632"},"modified":"2025-04-23T16:34:37","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T21:34:37","slug":"photo-documentary-to-show-history-beauty-of-greenfield-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/photo-documentary-to-show-history-beauty-of-greenfield-farm\/","title":{"rendered":"Photo Documentary to Show History, Beauty of Greenfield Farm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photographer Thad Lee to record farm through the seasons<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Clara Turnage<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A grant from the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area<\/strong> will fund a photo documentary project on Greenfield Farm<\/strong>, the future home of Mississippi’s first writer’s residency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenfield Farm<\/a>\u00a0was once home to Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Faulkner’<\/strong>s mules, chickens, and other farm animals. The land \u2013 just 15 miles northeast of Oxford \u2013 was acquired by the\u00a0University of Mississippi<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and will soon become an inspiration to a new generation of authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before renovation begins, however, the university’s\u00a0Mississippi Lab<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0wants to document the farm as it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’ve been working on developing the residency at Greenfield Farm for several years now,” said Mary Wise Conaway<\/strong>, project manager for the Mississippi Lab. “The land has such strong ties to Faulkner’s legacy and to the university, and this is an opportunity to document the farm as it is right now, before we break ground and before all those plans for the residency are put into motion.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mississippi Lab has partnered with\u00a0Thad Lee<\/a><\/strong>, a documentarian and photographer<\/a>, to chronicle the natural beauty of the timeworn property through a grant from the\u00a0Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since early January, Lee has been photographing the seasons at Greenfield Farm. Lee, a longtime Faulkner reader, said he’s excited to be able to preserve some of the original structures, flora, and mystique of the property through his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When they asked me to do this, I jumped at the chance,” he said. “You get out here and realize how far away you are from the rhythms of town, and Faulkner knew that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There’s a brilliant quiet, and Greenfield Farm is going to be able to share that with writers. They will be able to explore this place and discover what made it so special to Faulkner.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee’s experience with documenting landscapes made him the perfect person to join the Mississippi Lab on the project, Conaway said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At the end of this project, we’ll be developing a digital repository of his work to share with the public,” she said. “That’s going to be available on the Mississippi Lab website and through eGrove. We are at work on plans for exhibits, too.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daffodils are already growing wild near one of the buildings, rusted farm equipment is growing over with weeds, and myriad pieces of the past lie left behind, Lee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At some point, someone planted those daffodils,” he said. “There was once rich life here. This is a project that is going to cover the farm in this incredible transitional state from it being a place that hasn’t been tended in years, that has been partially reclaimed by the woods, to being a place where writers live again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The property has a wildness about it, but there are also structures that were there that belonged to Faulkner. I want to capture the marriage between the wilderness and the ruins.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n