BOLDTYPE ISSUE #48: Artwork By
This month's Boldtype cover is a photograph of the August 13, 2001 city-council meeting in Wadley, Georgia (population 2,468), taken by photographer Paul Shambroom. Over four years, from 1999 to 2003, Shambroom traveled around the United States photographing town meetings in both rural areas and localities within larger urban vicinities. Collected in Meetings (Chris Boot, 2004), these photographs document democracy at the smallest scale, portraying our glorious political ideals in their banal functioning.
Included at the end of the volume are the minutes from the meetings that Shambroom photographed. Captured in the above photo, the Wadley council meeting started at 7:30pm at City Hall. Mayor Samples (second from the right) called the meeting to order and Councilman Lewis (second from the left) led a prayer. Minutes from the previous meeting were approved and then various committees gave their reports. Councilman Lewis, Chairman of Safety, reported that "for the month of July the Police Department received 189 calls, three DUI's [sic], one city citation, 21 traffic tickets, collected $1,400.00, Probation $1,500.00, 10 bench warrants, one state case, $7,000.00 will be collected by Middle Georgia Probation." Mrs. Jane Smith "informed the council that IGA plan [sic] to open by September 15, 2001. Mrs. Smith also stated that the city need [sic] to get speed bumpers [sic] and pedestrian signs by the mall on Butts Street." The meeting adjourned at 8:45pm.
Paul Shambroom's photographs capture remarkable details of otherwise unremarkable settings. In the Wadley photograph, the four framed portraits, each slightly askew, offer clues to the town's history, while the tiny wheels affixed to the council's wooden desk suggest that the room serves another purpose at other times in the day.
- H.G. Masters
