Mississippi Library Association

With Signs Following: Photographs from the Southern Religious Roadside

York, Joe. With Signs Following: Photographs from the Southern Religious Roadside.
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007.
67 pp. $25.00 (hardcover)

Signs of a religious nature are familiar to anyone living in the South, and flipping through this book will garner smiles of recognition. Reading the accompanying introductions by Charles Reagan Wilson and photographer Joe York, though, will make you turn a fresh eye on the photographs featured here, as well as the roadsides you travel.
What began as a search for biscuits resulted in the revelation that one’s expression of religious belief in the South deserved more exploration, particularly evangelical Protestantism’s “Great Commission” to bring people to God. The contention here is that the advertising methods generally used for any of the innumerable products of modern living have been intentionally adapted for use in the marketing of salvation. It is a persuasive claim, one that is hard to deny once you have read the text, perused York’s spare black and white photographs, and hit the road yourself.
Wilson and York frame the photographs with compelling discussions of the connection between the road and religion in the South, along with interviews of people connected with the signs in the book. The photographs themselves depict wide-ranging religious expression, from simple graffiti to slick marquees and neon. York’s aesthetic sensibility and appreciation of visual wit come through in the juxtaposition of simple religious expressions with blatantly commercial objects and his judicious use of perspective, angle, and repeating patterns in composing his photographs.
With Signs Following is a thought-provoking book that could provide a jumping-off point for further study of the subject. It is recommended for all academic and public libraries.

Diane DeCesare Ross
Curator of Manuscripts, Archives, and Digital Collections
University of Southern Mississippi

Entry Filed under: Book Reviews
Posted on: October 1st, 2008