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The Friends of LSEM, Inc. announce the opening of an extraordinary exhibit of the black and white photography. Shared Earth: Ancient Mound Sites of Louisiana will open on September 26, 2016 in the West Wing Gallery.

The travelling exhibit organized by the Masur Museum in Monroe will feature original photographs by Jenny Ellerbe of mound sites along the Mississippi River basin in Northeast Louisiana. Dating to as early as 4000 B.C. these Native Americans built permanent settlements for their hunter-gatherer communities.  The exhibition will also display museum artifacts from Dr. Clarence H. Webb, Ralph and Lorraine McKinney and Michael Beckman collections from Poverty Point and other mound sites.

Jenny Ellerbe worked in partnership with Poverty Point station archaeologist Dr. Diana Greenlee to document the site in preparation for the UNESCO World Heritage application. Together they published a book, Poverty Point: Revealing the Forgotten City, combining the art of photography and the science of archaeology in their interpretation of the culture.  This spring, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities presented the publication with its prestigious Humanities Book of the Year award.

The Friends of the museum will host a reception, program and book signing on Sunday, October 16, 2016 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. with the artist Jenny Ellerbe and archaeologist Diana Greenlee.

Shared Earth: Ancient Mound Sites of Louisiana will be on display through November 13, 2016. Book Review:

https://www.knowlouisiana.org/42904/

https://jennyellerbe.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/shared-earth-nstallation/

http://www.crt.state.la.us/dataprojects/archaeology/moundsguide/index.html/

Admission is free and tours are available by appointment. For more information about the Friends of Louisiana State Exhibit Museum, go to www.laexhibitmuseum.org  and for the Secretary of State’s Museums Program, please visit our Web site at http://www.sos.la.gov/museums.

– www.sos.la.gov –