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“King of the Ozarks” is a series of pictures and interviews revolving around King Davis, an African American dairy farmer. It’s a document of his descendants, a deeply Ozarkian family, some of whom still live on the farm.
The photographer, Joyce McMurtrey, resides on a vineyard near Mountain Grove with her husband. She opened the Ozarks Studies Symposium in West Plains two weeks ago, and says that “King of the Ozarks” started as a way to meet her neighbors.
“I had heard stories about an African American man named King Davis. And everybody I worked with in the vineyard had a story about him,” she said. “And, as it turned out, his farm was six miles away from the farm that I currently live at.”
McMurtrey developed two ongoing picture projects before this one debuted in 2018: “Grapeography: a Year in the Life of a Missouri Vineyard” and “Ozark Women,” which will also be exhibited in West Plains in February and March of next year.
“King of the Ozarks” opened in September and runs through October 20 at the Gallery at the West Plains Civic Center. More information and a slideshow of the exhibit can be found on the West Plains Council on the Arts website.
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