Political activists and self-taught photographers Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss met in 1970 and began documenting everyday life in Grimes County, Texas. As a portrait of a people, that body of work caught the interest of Dominique de Menil, who organized its exhibition at Rice University's Institute for the Arts in 1977. Over the years, Baldwin and Watriss' relationship with the Menil has deepened.

Showcasing approximately 20 works from the 1950s through the 1980s, In the Midst of Things—Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss represents the depth of the couple's achievements as artists, the range of their concerns as journalists, and the passion that led to their founding of FotoFest. Capturing the momentous (the Civil Rights Era, the Vietnam War years) and the moment (small town socializing, daily life of tenant farmers) Baldwin and Watriss' photography "reflects a desire to expand our horizons beyond the comfort of the familiar, to find dignity and to resist superficial interpretations of reality."

On view through July 6.