Johnathon Kelso’s thought-provoking exploration of the southern states of America and Neo-Confederacy

In Johnathon Kelso’s series As God is My Witness, the Atlanta-based photographer explores the deep south of America, and tries to work out what it really means to be “southern”. 

“I sought to find out what being southern really is by photographing people and places of the region. During this time, the church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina occurred and this redirected the purpose of the work in a lot of ways,” explains Johnathon. “I wanted to look intently at the controversy surrounding Confederate symbolism in the wake of the shooting and, for the first time, examine for myself the Neo-Confederate presence in the south.”

The Confederate States of America were formed in 1861 by 11 southern states that withdrew from the United States to form their own government in order to preserve slavery, states’ rights and political liberty for white people. It was defeated in 1865 during the American Civil War and while never fully recognised as a separate government/country, today there are seven states which still live under Confederate flags – a symbol often characterised as a racist and hatred-filled symbol of the war, despite defenders saying it’s part of southern heritage.

Neo-Confederates are groups of revivalists from the 20th and 21st Century who try to portray the Confederate States of America and its actions during the war in a positive light. In the past Neo-Confederate circles and individuals have been embroiled in controversy, the most recent example occurring in the aftermath of the Charleston shooting, where a photo of suspect Dylan Roof was found of him posing with a hand-gun and a Confederate battle flag. With the connotations hard for many to forget, Neo-Confederate views are often seen as extreme and bigoted, yet despite these perceptions Johnathon felt it was important to spend time with these communities and understand them.  

“I grew up in the south and call it home, but had never really researched the Confederacy and the dark parts of our history… I spent time with folks stereotyped as racists, rednecks, country folk and, in some cases, labelled as extremists. I also spent time with authors, historians and documentarians who have devoted a lot of time and effort into understanding the American Civil War and how it affects those still living in the south today.”

Much of the series is made up of portraits thoughtfully composed and lit, and they help towards telling the different facets of the south. Interspersed are wider shots of the landscape, where battle re-enactments and rallies occur, as well as closer crops of statues and embroidered patches for a more personal insight. The overall aesthetic for the series was simple: “I wanted to bring to light the beauty of the south without excluding the messy bits,” Johnathon says. For the photographer, he felt it was important to show his subjects in a dignifying manner, even when he didn’t agree with them. “I tried to steer away from the obvious visual suggestions that are afforded during a project like this.”     

Having photographed Sons of Confederate Veterans groups within Georgia and Alabama, as well as people connected to Neo-Confederate culture, Johnathon “discovered a strong sense of loss and anger within Neo-Confederate groups as they witnessed their way of life come under fire and their numbers go asunder.” This anger was rarely directed towards the photographer himself during the project but there were occasions where he was rejected from the various groups he tried to document. This includes being interrogated for 20 minutes in a truck by Pastor John Weaver, a man listed as a “Neo-Confederate Extremist” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, who was convinced Johnathon was “an informant from an outside anti-Confederate group”. 

During the project, Johnathon realised his knowledge and opinions regarding the history of the Confederacy and the Civil War was largely informed by what he was taught in school as a child. “The south was bad, and the north was good. The north won the war and the slaves went free. It was all I knew. In fact, it was jarring to meet well-educated, respectful men and women who could shatter my simplistic thoughts merely by reciting handwritten correspondences from Abraham Lincoln during the years leading up to the war,” he explains. 

His opinions on racism and slavery remain unchanged – “they have no place” – but Johnathon was surprised by his response towards the people he met: “I developed far more empathy for the Neo-Confederate southerner than I had originally thought possible,” he says. “_As God is My Witness_ is an attempt to document what remains of this version of the south today, not some glorified Old South of the past. My task is to listen and practice empathy, to peer beyond the veil of America’s only ‘felt’ history and accept it.”