2026 SPE Annual Conference: Catalyst for Exchange
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print this pageWoven Wind
Vesna Pavlovic
Thursday, March 19 - 3:00PM to 4:00PM
Agusta
My presentation will focus on the Woven Wind project, and the series of photogravures printed using the experimental map-based ink. Woven Wind is a multi-layered artistic endeavor grounded in critical research on the Lovell-Quitman archive, located at the University of the South, Sewanee. Extensive plantation records, photographs, and objects document the lives of the officer William Storrow Lovell and wife Antonia, whose father was John A. Quitman (1799-1858), a large slaveowner and former governor of Mississippi. The wealth of these objects is in stark contrast to the records of the enslaved, whom we encounter through inventories. Scrutinizing these inventories, I worked with a genealogist to locate a family of descendants. Following this lead, together with a team of collaborators, I connected with the Toles family to record their oral histories and examine the painful history of enslavement. Central to the project is reparative community work based on the production of clay vessels, a metaphor for the descendants' connection to Natchez, MS, the site of their ancestors' enslavement. Taking a typological approach, in studio, I photographed the clay vessels to produce a portfolio of photographs. I focused on the distinct features of each vessel, their materiality, and the traces of their making. This experimental map-based ink conceptually ties the photographic representation with history and site. Clay, sourced locally from Mississippi River, brings forward a sense of place and memory. The complexity of representing the enslaved remains at the core of the project. How to ethically amplify the voices of the enslaved, and their visibility?
speaker
Vesna Pavlovic
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