Jason is a fabulous photographer who has always kept his finger on the pulse that makes Athens vibrate. Not surprisingly, this new collection meets the high standards he assigns to his craft. -- Bill Berry, R.E.M., The Bad Ends Jason has always had an eye for beauty. Here he has taken our beloved iconic 'Murmur Trestle' and uncovered the creature hiding beneath the mundane shell of creosote and kudzu, giving it an almost otherworldly life of its own. -- Terry Allen, photographer Here are striking images that surpass imagination: boundless tangles of kudzu in the dying southern light; then, unexpectedly, the trestlework rising up, its framework defying time yet suggesting the poetics of decay. A series of elegant images of the subject under a blanket of snow echoes a minimalist Japanese woodblock print. -- Jim Herbert, painter and filmmaker A beautiful collection of images of our beloved South, complex and nuanced with spark and surprise. -- Michael Stipe Murmur Trestle is Jason Thrashers visual meditation on one of Athens, Georgias most iconic vernacular structures. The trestle was originally made famous by Sandra-Lee Phipps Southern Gothic photograph that graced the back cover of R.E.M.s groundbreaking album Murmur. Thrashers book expands upon Phipps singular photograph through a William Christenberry-esque multi-year study that beautifully captures the patina of time on the human-built structure as well as the changing natural flora within the surrounding environs. -- Richard McCabe, curator of photography, Ogden Museum of Southern Art Jason Thrashers photographs whisper to us, both up close and from afar, of a now-departed southern monumentthe echoes of once-rumbling trains and, later, the bursting forth of southern alternative rock into popular consciousness. With the Murmur Trestle gone, the pictures conjure those intimate moments when Thrasher and the hard-worn bridge once communed together with the teeming spirit and restless power of southern nature. -- Jeffrey Richmond-Moll, curator of American art, Georgia Museum of Art Gifted photographer Jason Thrasher documented the iconic Athens, Georgia, Trail Creek Trestle (AKA the Murmur Trestle) prior to its demolition, to make way for the new pedestrian bridge and overlook on the Firefly Trail. His new book is an artistic look at the beloved railway trestle in its final hours through the seasons. There is much more than kudzu to be seenmimosa, Virginia creeper, and jewelweed adorn the creek banks, while moss clings to the old trestle. Downtown Athens feels like its a complete world away. -- Vanessa Briscoe Hay, Pylon and Pylon Reenactment Society MurmurTrestle will be of interest to so many: those interested it in the historical evolution of cities and towns; those who are intrigued with how photographs can tell a story in a way that words cannot; those who want to be more present with their surroundings both natural and human-made; those who tend to notice the ways in which once-important structures are left behind when we've decided they're no longer useful to us. -- Janet Geddis, owner of Avid Bookshop I have long been a big fan of Jasons photography and can think of no one better suited and able to capture this part of Athens history. -- Mike Mills, R.E.M. Murmur Trestle serves as a visual memorial for the wild corners and disused places that re-invent themselves in the heart of a community. . . . Jason Thrasher reminds us that even the fallen can go on living and remain beautiful in memory... -- Jocelyn Heath * Atlanta Journal Constitution/Arts Atl *
