jerry siegel

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b. 1958 - selma, alabama

siegel was born and raised in selma, al, and graduated from the art institute of atlanta. he was awarded the grand prize of the first artadia award in atlanta in 2009. while successfully maintaining a commercial photography studio in atlanta since the mid 1980s, he found his passion working on personal projects. 

his first monograph, facing south, portraits of southern artists, was published by the university of alabama press in 2011 and features portraits of 100 southern artists. this body of work has been featured in 6 solo museum exhibitions in alabama, georgia and louisiana.

his second book, black belt color, published by the georgia museum of art in 2017, focuses his attentions on documenting the unique, cultural landscape of the south, concentrating on the black belt region of alabama.

his work has been shown in solo exhibitions at the ogden museum of southern art in new orleans, the museum of contemporary art of georgia in atlanta, the telfair museum, jepson center for the arts in savannah, ga, montgomery museum of art in montgomery, al, the morris museum in augusta, ga, the jule collins smith museum in auburn, al, and the mobile museum of art, mobile, al. a commissioned body of work for the columbus museum in columbus, georgia, was featured in the 2009 solo exhibition now and then, snapshots of the south.

his work is in many private, corporate and public collections, including the high museum in atlanta, ga, ogden museum of southern art in new orleans, la, georgia museum of art, in athens, ga, the museum of contemporary art of georgia in atlanta,  birmingham museum of art, in birmingham, al, the  telfair museum, jepson center for the arts in savannah, ga,  the morris museum in augusta, ga and many other southeastern u.s. museums.

throughout his artistic career, jerry siegel has sought to photograph what his eyes see and what his heart connects to. the renown master photographer arnold newman once said about siegel’s work, “this is how it should be done.  this is not only the work of a professional but the work of an artist.”