In June 2019 Alabama-born, Minneapolis-based artist Tia-Simone Gardner began researching four homes in Alabama and Mississippi (Meridian/Philadelphia) that were inhabited by her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.
Gardner made a public presentation and trips to Birmingham and East Mississippi. Gardner’s work will culminate as an artist book of essays and images. This is part of the artist’s ongoing study of race, geography history, space, and place.
Gardner states of housing, “As a space and a place that takes on all of the living that occurs in proximity to it, not just the physicality of its interiors and exteriors, the house must be thought of as in relation to design and political economy, particularly in relationship to the history of housing in the U.S.”
Gardner is a mixed media artist working in methods of appropriation and installation. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA from the University of Alabama.
This talk was offered in partnership with the Alabama State Council for the Arts, Educational Foundation of America, and ArtPlace America.