My buddy at work lives in Wilson. He commutes 45 minutes daily to Raleigh. His world has recently changed by the opening of a new bypass around Knightdale directly to the 440 loop. When we ask him why he does it, he talks about his 19th century house with 11' ceilings and the value of his dollar in a small town.
I've shot a lot of small towns, and Wilson reminds me of a couple of them. It reminds me of Duluth, MN - a town that used to be busier. It reminds me of most every town between here and Columbia on Rt. 1 - towns where the conversation about "revitalizing the town center" is a couple generations too late.
Within the dozen blocks I walked on a Sunday afternoon, an easy majority of storefronts were empty. If a town can be judged by the storefronts on its mainstreets, the primary industry of Wilson must be pentecostal evangelism, with barbering a quick second.
Photography inevitably betrays my emotion of the moment. Somehow in the collage of light and color and composition, a critic can deduce an accidental intent. Walking these streets on this Sunday afternoon, I was unprepared to be alone (my colleague was unable to meet me in town.) I was confused by the mash of ornament and styles (when exactly was Wilson's heyday?) I was confronted by another question of faith (why don't I believe that the depth of these ubiquitous storefront chapels goes beyond the catch-phrase in its window signage? Where are the believable churches and what could they do about the emptiness?)(This was originially posted on Peace Arts OnLine)
