Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Matthew Williams, lynched in Salisbury, MD, 1931, 2007, C-Print, 20” x 24”

George Armwood, lynched in Salisbury, MD, 1933, 2007, C-Print, 30” x 24”

William Andrews, lynched in Princess Anne, MD, 1897, 2007, C-Print, 30” x 24”

Wright Smith, lynched in Annapolis, MD, 1898, 2007, C-Print, 30” x 24”

Joe Vermillion, lynched in Upper Marlborough, MD, 1889, 2007, C-Print, 24” x 40”

James Carrol, lynched in Point of Rocks, MD, 1879, 2007, C-Print,
34” x 30”

Site of jail, Crisfield, MD, 1907, 2007, C-Print, 20” x 24”

James Reed, lynched in Crisfield, MD, 1907, 2007, C-Print, 30” x 24”

King Johnson, lynched in Brooklyn, MD, 1911, 2007, C-Print,
20” x 24”

In North·East·South I examine both the history of lynching in Maryland and the state’s southern geography. The project includes three photographic series depicting the sites of Maryland’s lynching, the markers and crownstones that demarcate the Mason-Dixon line and a series of still lifes that include excerpted articles from the historic newspaper archive. In addition, a single channel video explores the racialized subjectivity of the news through the story of a lynching as reported from three different newspapers. This project began as an investigation into growing up two blocks from the Washington DC—Maryland border and well below the Mason-Dixon line. By revisiting the familiar places of my childhood, North·East·South focuses on their broader implications s sites of collective memory to initiate a dialogue about the intersection of American history and publics space.

Read the essay "A Way of Knowing" by Robert S. Mattison
and "A Conversation between the Artist and Stephanie Dinkins"

Projects > North·East·South: Lynching Sites

All images © Karina Aguilera Skvirsky 2008