Music of the South: Pam Francis Photos Curator Walkthrough
in partnership with POST HTX
with Christine Starkman
This event will take place in the front lobby. The building is closed but will open specifically for this walkthrough. Please park on Bagby or Congress and meet us at the front of the building for the start of the tour. If you have any issues navigating, please contact us at admin@cinemahtx.org. We look forward to seeing you there!
POST HTX presents the first photography exhibition of the remarkable Houston-born artist and photographer Pam Francis (1954-2000). Music of the South: Pam Francis Photographs will be on view November 13, 2021, to January 11, 2022.
The exhibition includes a portrait of Lyle Lovett for MET magazine in 1990 and one of the first official portraits of the group Destiny’s Child from 2000. In the 1990s, Francis photographed the great Houston Blues and R&B musicians Grady Gaines, I.J. Gosey, and the legendary Texas guitar great Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble. Also featured in the exhibition are the Tejano supergroup La Mafia, Los Palomino, Emilio Navarro, and Selena, “The Queen of Tejano.” Francis also photographed country music legends Patty Loveless, Hank Williams, Jr., Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, George Strait, and Randy Travis.
In 2001 Francis was the lead photographer for Southern Rap artists in Houston, shooting for XXL, the New York-based hip-hop and entertainment magazine. The exhibition includes portraits of UGK (Pimp C and Bun B), Slim Thug, Lil’ O, Mike Jones, Lil’ Keke, Lil’ Flip, and music producers J. Prince and Tony Draper. Also in 2001, as one of the chief photographers for the Houston Texans Got Tickets billboard campaign, Francis captured iconic images of Dusty Hill and Frank Beard (ZZ Top), Lyle Lovett, Destiny’s Child, and Clay Walker.
Part of The Third Coast Program.
Masks are required indoors at all times.
Special Guests
Pam Francis
Pam Francis (1954-2020) was born in Houston, Texas. She graduated with a BFA in studio art, specializing in photography and graphic design, in spring 1979 at the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. Her early works include portrait photographs for the covers of Texas Monthly, beginning in 1991 with Dan Rather, CBS Evening News anchor, and Oscar Wyatt, founder and CEO of Coastal Corporation. By 2001, recognized as one of the top photographers in Houston, Francis became the chief photographer for the Houston Texans Got Tickets billboard campaign. Throughout her career, Francis presented sustained, eloquent, and provocative exploration of portraiture. She cultivated technical finesse and clearly communicated the vitality she derived from her subjects.
Christine Starkman
Christine Starkman is a contemporary art curator interested in the global, transnational, and transcultural histories of modern and contemporary art between Asia, Europe, and Latin America. She has been a researcher and curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She has a master’s degree in Japanese art and architecture from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and did PhD coursework in art history at Rice University, Houston. Starkman is a recipient of the 2021 Fulbright Scholar Award for Korea.