On These Grounds
Large Format Silver Gelatin Prints & Photograms
Owens-Thomas House : Servitude
Yamacraw Village : Prevention
I grew up in the suburbs of North Texas. The only “historical site” near my hometown was a Confederate memorial statue that officials removed after extensive vandalism in 2020. When I moved to Savannah, Georgia to attend college, the historical preservation was breathtaking.
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Being a young African American woman, I had never knowingly walked on the grounds of a city that spoke directly of my heritage and preserved it so directly.
Heritage is Culture.
First Bryan Baptist Church : Ownership
Fort Pulaski : Freedom
It is a documentation of personal reactions and reflections I’ve made in connecting myself to my heritage and the path others have taken in order for me to exist as a young black woman in America.
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In the same way viewers are called to address varying perspectives on social and racial convictions, I was called to contemplate beliefs other than my own.
‘On These Grounds’ is not only a documentation of literal sites.
St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church : Conversion
Factor's Walk Vaults : Confinement
While convictions may initially fail to parallel one another, what happened on these grounds is heritage,
and heritage is culture.
Laurel Grove Cemetery South : Restless
Stoney-Baynard Plantation Ruins : Desolation