Join us on Thursday, November 14th to hear our taproom's next door neighbor, Justus Thomas, present on his new photobook "The River Will Be A Part Of Us"!⁠
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In 1981, self-taught photographer Justus Wayne Thomas and a group of friends met in a park in Missouri and set off on a two-month adventure on their hand-built raft that traveled the Missouri and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. Along the way, Thomas documented the beauty, mishaps, connections, and stories with his camera and captured this particular time and place in America, and the nostalgia and romance of this unique experience. ⁠
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The mythology of adventure is built into the founding of America, and the cultural iconography associated with each of these two rivers translates in the photographs collected in this book–both relative to Thomas's unique story, as well as historically and fictionally. Indigenous populations thrived along the Missouri for thousands of years, Civil War battles were fought on the banks of the Mississippi, and prior to writing books set on the Mississippi, notable writer Mark Twain served as a riverboat pilot and folded in his love for the river in much of his fiction and nonfiction.⁠
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The raft took 10 days to construct and Atlanta-based writer, TK Smith provides insight into all that went into the project. "The two-ton behemoth consisted of a 16' x 24' deck built with 6" x 6" lumber beams and two rigor beams made from a halved telephone pole. The wooden frame sat atop thirty-two 55-gallon empty and sealed oil drums, banded beneath the frame to keep the raft afloat. The raft had no motor and was steered by four 10-foot oars attached to the four corners of the deck."⁠
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Come hear more from Thomas himself as well as have the chance to get a signes copy of the book! This is a free event and open to the public, so we hope you will join us!⁠
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L'Union Fait la Force || Strength in Adventure