‘Bootheel Lullaby’

J. R. Welch is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and photographer from Hayti, Missouri, in the Bootheel, and based in New Orleans. His work explores the cultural memory of the Lower Mississippi River Valley through painting, photography, installation, poetry, memoir, and essays. Drawing from the landscapes and communities of the American South, his stories examine memory, faith, identity before they disappear from the historical record. His writing has appeared in The Christian Century, Reckon Review, Blueline, Queen's Review, Pictura Journal, and other literary journals. He is a 2026 Arts Interchange Resident with the Ross Lynn Foundation and an MFA student at Louisiana State University, New Orleans.