Shawne Brown’s photographs, on view at Nashville International Airport, are the result of a year he spent photographing the site of the former Neuhoff Meatpacking Plant, which is an abandoned slaughterhouse located just north of downtown Nashville on the Cumberland River. Empty since 1977, the property is currently being reinvented by the Nashville Cultural Arts Project.

This photographic series does not necessarily illustrate a history of the place, but rather a view of what is there now. Brown explains, “I do not make pictures based on preconceived notions of where they should fit, but by responding to my surroundings and being informed by the medium. Nor am I interested in documenting anything. This project allows a sort of visual tour of a particular place informed by private experience.”

Born in 1977 in Kingsport, TN, Brown studied photography and painting at East Tennessee State University. He moved to Nashville in 2002 upon being invited by the Nashville Cultural Arts Project to photograph the Neuhoff property. He is currently at work photographing the Solomon Valley along Highway 24 in Kansas, the geodetic center of North America.

Arts at the Airport receives funding for the visual arts from the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA) and the Tennessee Arts Commission (TAC). Music performances are sponsored by MNAA, Delaware North Companies, Inc. and The Paradies Shops. The Flying Solo Exhibition Series is funded in part under an agreement with the TAC and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information about Arts at the Airport, please call (615)275-1614 or visit www.artsattheairport.com.