The Dirt: A review of “The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse”

By UVA Commonwealth Professor of American Studies and History Grace Elizabeth Hale. This is a review of “The Dirty South” at the VMFA where it originated and hung until September 6, 2021. The show is now on view at the Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, through February 6, 2022, and images in this feature are courtesy of that museum. Later, it will travel to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, March 12–July 25, 2022; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, September 2022–February 2023. Please note that the installations will vary in each location.