Join photojournalist and author Kate Medley as she shares stories and images from her book Thank Your Please Come Again: How Gas Stations Feed & Fuel the American South on Thursday, April 4th at 4:00 p.m. in the Omnova Theater of the Columbus Arts Council.  

The event is sponsored by the Friendly City Books Community Connection, a special project of the CREATE Foundation, in partnership with the Columbus Arts Council.

The event is free and open to the public.

After the Book Talk, guests will be treated to a reception catered by Columbus favorite and thematically appropriate, United Deli.

Guests are encouraged to stay for the gallery opening of Columbus painter Ralph Null in the Main Gallery of the Rosenzweig Arts Center. Drinks and hors d'oeuvres provided.

About the Book:

THANK YOU PLEASE COME AGAIN is the documentation of Kate Medley’s many road trips across the South photographing our service stations, convenience stores, and quick stops. Along the way, Kate pulls over for tamales, fried fish, and banh mi, but her images uncover the people and landmarks that supply far more than food and gas.

In an ever more divided America, these iconic gathering spaces provide unexpected community, generosity, labor, and creativity. Are these rural and urban pit stops the true “filling stations” of our time? In words and nearly 200 incredible images from the American South, Kate Medley shares her answers.

THANK YOU PLEASE COME AGAIN is an art book and a heart book.

About the Author:

Kate Medley is a North Carolina-based visual journalist and filmmaker documenting the American South. Her work focuses on storytelling and environmental portraiture, often exploring issues of social justice and the shifting politics of the region.

Her roots are in Mississippi, where she has investigated Civil Rights-era cold cases, covered the devastating impacts of Hurricane Katrina, and chased down hot tamales and Koolicles in the Mississippi Delta. She currently lives in Durham, North Carolina, where she works as a photojournalist for numerous national news outlets.

She received a Bachelor's in Photojournalism from the University of Montana and a Master's in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi. She pioneered the brand storytelling program for Whole Foods Market, focused on bringing the stories of farmers, fishers, and ranchers from all over the world into the store by way of documentary films, photographs, and narrative.

She is a proud member of Women Photograph and the National Press Photographers Association. She is also a certified drone pilot.