In the early 1970s, Andrew walked Fayetteville with a beginner’s curiosity—photographing whatever drew his eye. These pictures show an artist discovering the balance that would define his next five decades: the relationship between form and abstraction (line, light, contrast) and literal storytelling (people, place, and time). Mechanics and students, parents and children; storefronts and churches; cars along Dickson Street with Old Main in the distance—scenes that feel vulnerable, connected, nostalgic, and very real.

This preview of photographs is from a newly printed body of work. In 2025, eighty prints from the early ’70s were delivered to the University of Arkansas Special Collections, where they will be preserved and shared with the public. Together, they offer a window into Andrew’s origins as a photographer and a personal glimpse into the Fayetteville that shaped him—and that he helped shape in return.

Artist’s Statement
"I first came here in 1971 and for the next several years I just took photographs wandering around the streets of Fayetteville - just whatever caught my eye. I find these early pictures interesting for many reasons. I was just learning how to practice my craft. I was fascinated by the relationship between form, abstraction, and literal storytelling. As you look at the pictures you can try to see examples of that relationship. If you can see the structural elements in the photograph and how they contribute to the storytelling, while still maintaining an interest in the structures just for themselves, you can begin to see what I'm fascinated by. The photographs also illustrate my developing taste in editing and printmaking. I love to stretch the boundaries of contrast and tonal separation to the breaking point. I love loads of contrast, deep blacks and bright whites creating surfaces that seem to glow with their own light. I'm always willing to sacrifice some detail in the shadows and in the highlights to achieve this sense of depth and light in the display of surfaces.

This exhibit is a small window into my origin as a photographer and a personal glimpse into the people and places that were a part of my life in the 1970’s."
—Andrew Kilgore

Credits
Photographs © Andrew Kilgore. Printing and curation by Andrew Kilgore Studio.

Acknowledgments
With gratitude to Joshua Cobbs Youngblood, Associate Dean for Special Collections, and Katrina Windon, Collections Management & Processing Unit Head at Mullins Library, for guiding this work into its permanent home. Also we are thankful to Henry O. Head for editing and moral support as this project came to life.