Artist’s Dollar General painting prompts viral conversation on rural socioeconomics
By Katherine Lin | Originally published by Mississippi Today
In Brejenn Allen’s painting, a store sits in a field surrounded by rows of crops.
The painting’s title, “Dolla Gentral” is displayed on a distinctive yellow sign. In the expansive sky above the store in the painting, some of the clouds are made up of Dollar General receipts, twisted up and painted over.
“The work is doing two things. It’s honoring my memories and also calling into question or creating a conversation around their business practices and their business model and how it is taking advantage of their consumers,” Allen said.
The Meridian-based artist tries to capture the Mississippi and the South that she has experienced – its people, its beauty and its contradictions.
Her “Dolla Gentral” painting urges the viewer to think about the complex socioeconomic realities of the rural South, she said.
A video Allen made about her painting – she sits in front of a Dollar General store and talks about how the company is often one of the few places to shop in rural areas – has already generated conversation online.
The video has over 3,000 comments and over 1 million views across social media platforms. Some chimed in with a list of Dollar General’s controversies, including the pushing out of mom and pop stores, claims of understaffing and lack of healthy food options. Others said that if a Dollar General is the only option available to people, they should just move closer to urban areas.
“A lot of people didn’t get it when I posted it to social media. They’re like, ‘Oh, why do you shop there? They’re terrible. They’re taking advantage of you,’” the artist said. “We have to shop there. People are not choosing to shop there because that’s the best place for them. They’re shopping there because that’s the only option.”
A Dollar General in the middle of a field is a familiar sight to Allen and others in rural towns across the country. Allen’s family moved to the small town of Porterville from Indiana when she was 10 years old. The town didn’t have a grocery store so her family would shop at the local Dollar General when they didn’t want to make the long drive to a larger town. She has fond memories of going to the local Dollar General with her dad where he would buy snacks and ice cream sandwiches for her and her siblings.
Over the past few years, Dollar General has paid millions of dollars to settle lawsuits claiming price gouging and for worker safety violations.
A 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that when a new dollar store opens, employment and sales at local, independent grocery stores falls. And the drop was larger and longer lasting in rural areas.
Dollar General has close to 600 stores in Mississippi, and in 2023, the state had three dollar stores for every 10,000 people, the highest rate in the country according to an analysis by Mississippi Public Broadcasting.
“There’s a lot of Dollar Generals and people see them without really thinking about it. But then when Ms. Allen put that piece together, it made people pause,” said Garry Brown, the owner of The Patton House and Gallery.
The Patton House is one of the oldest homes in Jackson and now functions as an art gallery and community space. Allen’s work was recently displayed at the house as part of an exhibit called “Back Home Down South” alongside that of fellow artist Christy Meshe as they explored their shared Mississippi roots.
“I think that piece spoke to what America’s going through right now. I think it’s going to ride the wave. It’s a rockstar like she is,” Brown said.
Another of Allen’s paintings in the exhibit captures two people in front of an abandoned Meridian gas station selling “white dirt.” Eating white clay, especially to satisfy cravings from pica and-or pregnancy, is a practice found throughout the American South and across the globe. But researchers caution that consuming white clay over a prolonged period can lead to iron deficient anemia and other side effects. For Allen, the piece captures a very Southern tradition and also honors the entrepreneurship, labor and drive of Mississippians.
“I wanted it to feel inviting to people that aren’t from here, but also representative to people that are from here. So if you’re from here, I want you to feel like, oh, that’s my home girl. She really gets it. And if you’re not from here, to be like, OK, I have a little bit better of an understanding of what Mississippi is like,” Allen said.
The three dimensional texture of the sunset in her painting “The Speedy Cash” reaches out to the viewer, inviting them into the world of the painting. It shows a payday loan store – another ubiquitous feature in poor, rural Mississippi – beneath a vibrant sky, its neon lights glowing.
Payday loan or check cashing stores offer short term loans often without requiring credit reports or credit scores. They promise a quick way to get cash in emergency situations and are used by millions of Americans each year. However, critics say that the high interest rates, fees and industry practices are predatory, and are often used to cover people’s basic expenses. At one time, Mississippi had the highest number of payday loan stores per capita.
“I’ve had to get a loan. So how does this circle back to my own experience with loan places and how I paid my loans off and how I’m in a place now to be able to make work about the places that I used to be?” Allen said.
With support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Foundation for the Mid South, she will continue to work on a series about check cashing businesses and their role in the Delta.
“It’s filling a need even if it’s taking advantage of people in that specific moment. It’s tough, and I’m trying to capture that tension” Allen said.
“I don’t think we should not paint something or not document it just because you think it has something negative attached to it. Because everybody has their own experience connected,” Allen said.
Among the criticism on social media over her Dollar General piece, many more people commented that they saw their own experience reflected in the painting. Allen says that’s one of the reasons she tries to capture Mississippi in her art.
“Our people and our story are something worth preserving and sharing,” Allen said.
On Thursday, Allen was named South Art’s 2026 Mississippi Fellow for Visual Arts and she will compete for the Southern Prize for Visual Arts.
As part of the fellowship, some of Allen’s work, including “Dolla Gentral,” will be displayed at the Western Carolina Fine Art Museum in Cullowhee, North Carolina.
This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Source: Original Article
