Jack Hanley Gallery presents an exhibition by Jeffrey Sauger, Where Furrows Run Deep.

The existence of yet another population of our nation’s landscape has begun to fade. Institutional racism, foreclosures, and bankruptcy have shattered American black farmers’ rights to the land they have occupied for generations. Today, African Americans own only roughly 1 percent of all farmland in the United States and few have taken notice.

As recognition of this population continues to grow faint, the Jack Hanley Gallery presents Where Furrows Run Deep, a photographic documentary by Jeffrey Sauger. Sauger’s collection of images shot on black and white film over several years bares witness to a disappearance. Neither overly sentimental nor strictly practical, Where Furrows Run Deep speaks with an emotional utility. The aesthetic achievement of Sauger’s compositions function to further the testimony and visibility of the vanishing American black farmer; they are a call to action.

Jeffrey Sauger began the project as a graduate student in Ohio in 1999. He continued the project through grants and sponsorship from Blue Earth Alliance. This body of work was recently shown at the Museum of New Art (MONA) in Pontiac near Detroit (www.detroitmona). Sauger received his master’s degree from Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication, and is a professional photojournalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Time, The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press and The Washington Post. In 2000, Sauger was named Michigan photographer of the Year by Michigan Press Photographers Association.