The Mountains are Calling
Donation protected
I am raising funds to cover framing expenses* for “The Mountains are Calling: At Home in Western North Carolina (c.1790-1830),” a history-based photographic exhibit that will be free and open to the public and is expected to reach about 50,000 people.
This exhibit is an intersection of history and art. I use photography as a tool of inquiry into the past, combining photography and history in a new field of what I think of as visual public history.
The purpose of this exhibit is both educational and artistic, providing an academic resource for elementary through university students as well as a photographic exploration of life in the North Carolina mountains in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Overall, my images aim to remind us that every day we live on a foundation built by those who preceded us – and that at present we are leaving our own legacy for future generations.
For example, one of the themes of this exhibit is an exploration of slavery in the mountains. I have heard many people say that slavery was not prevalent in that part of our state, because there were no large plantations in the region. However, slavery played a major role in mountain economy, and part of my work explores the daily life and contributions of enslaved people. Below are images of the slave quarters at the Vance Birthplace.
This exhibit is the result of work I have done at the Vance Birthplace State Historic Site in Weaverville, NC, over the past 10 months. In addition to photographs, the display will include period artifacts and relevant facsimiles. This project is a collaboration with divisions of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR), including the Vance Birthplace, the Western Office , and the North Carolina State Capitol .
The exhibit is due to open on September 15th as part of a symposium on the legacy of North Carolina’s Confederate Civil War Governor Zebulon Vance and will be on show in Asheville through December. Next it will move to the Capitol Building in Raleigh for January through May 2018.
I have been working on history-based projects since 2011, with my “Stagville: Black & White” exhibit about North Carolina’s largest plantation. Although this is a collaborative project with the state of North Carolina, I am receiving no payment from the state for my work. I currently have no academic affiliation and am now supported solely by the generosity of Patreon patrons, friends, and family.
I would be extremely grateful for any help you can give. Even if you cannot give yourself, I would be very grateful to you for passing along word of this project to others who might be able to contribute financially.
Getting people to learn and think deeply about our past is particularly relevant in this age of (re-)defining our history through political protest and removal of monuments.
*Any extra I raise will help me recuperate some of what I have spent in my unpaid work on this project for the last 10 months and help me continue my work on further projects.
This exhibit is an intersection of history and art. I use photography as a tool of inquiry into the past, combining photography and history in a new field of what I think of as visual public history.
The purpose of this exhibit is both educational and artistic, providing an academic resource for elementary through university students as well as a photographic exploration of life in the North Carolina mountains in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Overall, my images aim to remind us that every day we live on a foundation built by those who preceded us – and that at present we are leaving our own legacy for future generations.
For example, one of the themes of this exhibit is an exploration of slavery in the mountains. I have heard many people say that slavery was not prevalent in that part of our state, because there were no large plantations in the region. However, slavery played a major role in mountain economy, and part of my work explores the daily life and contributions of enslaved people. Below are images of the slave quarters at the Vance Birthplace.
This exhibit is the result of work I have done at the Vance Birthplace State Historic Site in Weaverville, NC, over the past 10 months. In addition to photographs, the display will include period artifacts and relevant facsimiles. This project is a collaboration with divisions of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR), including the Vance Birthplace, the Western Office , and the North Carolina State Capitol .
The exhibit is due to open on September 15th as part of a symposium on the legacy of North Carolina’s Confederate Civil War Governor Zebulon Vance and will be on show in Asheville through December. Next it will move to the Capitol Building in Raleigh for January through May 2018.
I have been working on history-based projects since 2011, with my “Stagville: Black & White” exhibit about North Carolina’s largest plantation. Although this is a collaborative project with the state of North Carolina, I am receiving no payment from the state for my work. I currently have no academic affiliation and am now supported solely by the generosity of Patreon patrons, friends, and family.
I would be extremely grateful for any help you can give. Even if you cannot give yourself, I would be very grateful to you for passing along word of this project to others who might be able to contribute financially.
Getting people to learn and think deeply about our past is particularly relevant in this age of (re-)defining our history through political protest and removal of monuments.
*Any extra I raise will help me recuperate some of what I have spent in my unpaid work on this project for the last 10 months and help me continue my work on further projects.
Organizer
Brenda Scott
Organizer
Durham, NC
