Shelby Lee Adams has been photographing the people of Appalachia since the late 70s. Adams was born in the mountains of Kentucky, and his entire body of work is rooted in the desire to document a single community. The images feature hardship, and though he doesn’t seek to romanticize these families’ ways of life, the photographs are also imbued with profound tenderness and beauty. In The True Meaning of Pictures, Jennifer Baichwal introduces Adams, his work, the subjects of his images, and the reviewers of his art, including critics, curators, and fellow photographers. The film deftly incorporates multiple responses to Adams’s photos, which creates a lively discourse that includes praise, criticism, and complicated interpretations, and addresses broader implications about the nature of documentary photography. Does Adams perpetuate negative stereotypes about Appalachia? Does he exploit his subjects? Take artistic license? Or are he and the people in his images engaged in an authentic exchange?  ST