Sharon Stewart. The Magic Valley Sunflower, south of Mission, Texas, where sunflowers are commercially grown for seeds.

This picture was made south of Mission, Texas, where sunflowers are commercially grown for seeds. Sharon Stewart is a native of Edinburg, Texas, who has been drawn by her heritage to study the Valley through the camera lens. She says:

"Dual agricultural and spiritual influences have graced the Valley's languid cadence of living since its settlement. These photographs form a memory of life lived from the earth and from the spirit, and they may become a testament of a time lost to the economic pressures of tourism and maquiladora manufacturing."