In Memoriam: Matt Herron

Photo: Jeannine Herron

The opening of Matt Herron’s obituary in the August 11, 2020 New York Times captured his contributions to history and his zest for life:

Matt Herron, a photojournalist who vividly memorialized the most portentous and promising moments from the front lines of the 1960s civil rights movement in the Deep South, died on Aug. 7 when a glider he was piloting crashed in Northern California. He was 89.

At HAC, we mourn Matt’s death. HAC is carrying out a National Endowment for the Arts award to celebrate and build on the work of George Ballis, a photographer and activist known for capturing the dignity of ordinary people – especially farmworkers and those building self-help homes – and also for his iconic photos of Cesar Chavez. Herron and Ballis, both taught by Dorothea Lange, risked their lives documenting the civil rights movement in the Deep South, chronicled in Herron’s book Mississippi Eyes.

A noted and active photographer and writer up to his death, Herron was Ballis’s friend and the custodian of his photographic legacy. Herron was generous in lending his expertise and memories to HAC toward the upcoming Ballis inspired exhibition and accompanying narrative. Matt was set to coach the photographers selected for the project and to curate the exhibition alongside To Be Done’s Omar Hakeem.

Several photographers with deep ties to Matt Herron are contributing their talents to the exhibition, set for late 2020.