Making Art/Making Home

From "Shared History," a video produced by Felicia Dryden about the relationships of descendants of the slaves and slaveowners of Woodlands Plantation, S.C. (Left) A 1951 "reunion" of the Woodlands "plantation folk," (right) The Woodlands Families 50th Anniversary Gathering, November 24, 2001. (Click images to view larger version)

Preface

In June 2003, Alternate ROOTS (Regional Organizations of Theaters/Artists South) organized a public workshop called "Making Art/Making Home" in partnership with the "Evoking History" project at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, S.C. Spoleto is an annual international festival of performing and visual arts modeled on the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy.

The three-part workshop, June 6-8, was designed by ROOTS' educational arm, Resources for Social Change, to examine the changing meaning of home in the region and the role of the arts within this social change. It included a showing of "Shared History," a documentary narrative among the black and white families descended from the slaves and slave owners of Woodlands Plantation, followed by a discussion on "Race: A Defining Factor."

Other workshop topics included:

• Who's Got a Right to the Power of Art?
• The Dynamics of Power in Shaping Relationships and Determining Decision Making
• The Dynamics of Community and Cultural Organizing in Reshaping Community Empowerment
• Listening to Art: Responses to "Latitude 32°" and
• Listening Beyond Symbolism

"Making Art/Making Home" was concurrent with "Latitude 32° – Navigating Home," a public art performance/installation created by artists Suzanne Lacy and Rick Lowe with the citizens of Charleston. The artwork was the third annual installment of "Evoking History," an initiative founded in 2001 at Spoleto by curators Mary Jane Jacob and Tumelo Mosaka to explore of the unresolved and contested history and legacy of Charleston's part in the slave trade. "Evoking History" has adopting the approach of listening across cultures and as a way to engage diverse histories.

To capture the ideas, concerns and voices of the people involved in these projects, CAN has gathered a group of articles and an online discussion from the participants. Dip into the links below to get a taste of the current debate on race and history among Southern activist artists and their community partners. And join the conversation. (Thanks to Neill Bogan and Gwylène Galllimard for helping to organize this Web package.)

–Linda Frye Burnham, editor

Making Art/Making Home: An Introduction
On the different approaches and shifting relationships of the partners in the project. By Neill Bogan

ROOTS Goes to Spoleto: A Report
What happened in the workshops of "Making Art/Making Home." By Frank Martin

Making Community: Voices from the dialogues
Notes from the "Making Art/Making Home" workshops, bringing forth the voices of those who were there. By Gwylène Gallimard

Practicing in Public
On "not knowing" and "Evoking History" in Charleston. By Mary Jane Jacob

Latitude 32° – Navigating Home
On "Navigating Home," and other matters. By Suzanne Lacy

Afterwords: A Conversation Around "Making Art/Making Home"
An online discussion of issues and ideas arising in the ROOTS Spoleto project

Afterwords: A Conversation Around "Making Art/Making Home" Part 2
Continuation of an online discussion of issues and ideas arising in the ROOTS Spoleto project

More information about Alternate ROOTS (http://www.alternateroots.org) and Spoleto USA (http://www.spoletousa.org) may be found on the Web.

Original CAN/API publication: October 2003