SARAH KAVAGE
I’m a Seattle based visual artist who makes artwork about place. HOME
ABOUT
PAINTING & DESIGN
DREAMING FIELD
Part 1: Uncovering
Part 2: Emergence
2021
Bartram’s Garden, Philadelphia PA
Collaborators
Ji Sun Chong
Aicha Coulibaly
Brenda Howell
Mary MaDookz Muse
Ayah Pearson McCoy
Community Liaisons
Priscilla Bell
Jose Ortiz Pagan
Special thanks to
Shanna, Zach, Bill, and all of the other staff at Bartram’s garden
Photos
Ji Sun Chong, Robert Zverina, Sarah Kavage
Bartram’s Garden, Philadelphia PA
Collaborators
Ji Sun Chong
Aicha Coulibaly
Brenda Howell
Mary MaDookz Muse
Ayah Pearson McCoy
Community Liaisons
Priscilla Bell
Jose Ortiz Pagan
Special thanks to
Shanna, Zach, Bill, and all of the other staff at Bartram’s garden
Photos
Ji Sun Chong, Robert Zverina, Sarah Kavage
Meadows uptake pollution, build soil, and provide valuable habitat. This work reveals their beauty and function, as well as unseen, often feminine labor.
This was a very special project, as I was joined by 5 women braiders ages 16-60 to work at Bartram’s Garden, the historic home and garden of John Bartram, a prominent amateur botanist in Philadelphia’s colonial period (1700s). This work is improvised and nonrepresentational, but ideally there is a cohesive mood or energy to it. In talking about what our intention should be, we were moved by scholar Sharece Blakney’s recent research to uncover the Black history of Bartram’s Garden and Southwest Philadelphia where it is located. The two parts of the work were in different parts of the meadow and had two distinct moods, one subdued and one exuberant. We dedicated our work to the hard work, beauty, and joy of Black women.
This was a very special project, as I was joined by 5 women braiders ages 16-60 to work at Bartram’s Garden, the historic home and garden of John Bartram, a prominent amateur botanist in Philadelphia’s colonial period (1700s). This work is improvised and nonrepresentational, but ideally there is a cohesive mood or energy to it. In talking about what our intention should be, we were moved by scholar Sharece Blakney’s recent research to uncover the Black history of Bartram’s Garden and Southwest Philadelphia where it is located. The two parts of the work were in different parts of the meadow and had two distinct moods, one subdued and one exuberant. We dedicated our work to the hard work, beauty, and joy of Black women.
As part of the project, artist Misty Sol served as Artist in Residence at Bartram’s Garden / Sankofa Farm, and created Furrow - a cob oven project built with local clay that was activated with ritual firings.