“Eudora Welty’s Women:” Photos taken by the prolific writer on display

The late Eudora Welty is considered a great Mississippi and American writer. A lesser known fact about her is that she was also an accomplished photographer.

Eudora Welty, who died in 2001 at the age of 92, was a Pulitzer Prize winner and received the Presidential Medal of Honor among other awards. The Mississippi native was also a renowned photographer.

A gallery of her work is on display this month at MGCCC's Jackson County campus. The display, titled "Eudora Welty's Women," is an exhibit of powerful photos taken in the Magnolia State during the Great Depression.

"Eudora Welty is known primarily as an author. I think part of what fueled her writing, her passion was what she saw and experienced. I think this show documents that very well," said Marc Poole, the school's gallery director.

Welty traveled the state capturing images, primarily of women, during a time of economic calamity. The poignant photos are a natural extension of her reputation as a great writer."She's such an icon in the state for her literary work, but that artist's eye to be able to see what's around her from that time period fueled her imagination so much," said Poole. "It's the same thing that applies to visual art."

Mississippi is establishing what they're calling the Mississippi Writers Trail, which will be similar to the blues or civil rights trails that are currently designated with markers across the state. In September, the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C. came to Jackson and put up the first marker in front of Eudora Welty's home.