The University Libraries welcomed a new cohort of artists for the third year of its Incubator Awards. Nine Carolina students received financial and research support to spend the spring semester engaging with historical and rare library materials and using them as inspiration for artistic projects.
They will present artists’ talks about their experience during the Incubator Awards Showcase on April 11, 2023, in the Pleasants Family Assembly Room, Wilson Library, 5-7 p.m.
Congratulations to our recipients!
“Listening to the Wilgus System”
Joseph O’Connell and Chris Catanese
Joseph O’Connell, doctoral candidate in American Studies
Chris Catanese, doctoral candidate in English and comparative literature
Joe O’Connell and Chris Catanese engage with and respond to D.K. Wilgus’s and Eleanor Long-Wilgus’s thematic approach to folksong classification. “Listening to the Wilgus System” takes an artifact of this approach—the Wilguses’ complex schema of narrative tropes—and uses it as a prompt for a new, community-curated audio playlist. The project’s culminating event is a listening party for the playlist, with an adult- and kid-friendly craft table for assembling personal “commonplace books” from archival ephemera.
Living history presentation of an 18th-century apothecary shop
Mary Kate Mauney
Isabella Maria Chow Kai
Sierra Roark
Sierra Roark, doctoral candidate in anthropology
Isabella Maria Chow Kai, anthropology and chemistry major
Tessa McGuire, archaeology major
Mary Kate Mauney, anthropology major
Roark, McGuire and Mauney analyzed various documents, including herbals, medical guides and fashion plates to build a living history presentation of the 18th-century apothecary shop. The project includes costume design, set building and recreating tinctures and ointments. They focus on women’s health and botanical knowledge and give context to “past healthcare access, treatment options, scientific knowledge and the foundation of American medicine.”
“This Land of Ours”
Mark Brown Jr.
Mark Brown Jr., masters student in studio arts
This Land of Ours explores “Black people’s relationship with land — specifically land ownership in relation to Black people’s history in the United States — and who has the ‘right’ to land” Brown’s research focuses on vernacular photography in North Carolina to create landscape photography assemblages.
Poetry and multimedia visual art based on research in Appalachian folk culture
Sadie Allen
Sadie Allen, studio arts major
Allen explores material related to Appalachian folk culture, including food, music and quilting. She has created a poetry book paired with multimedia visual art that “encapsulates the complex and beautiful experience of growing up in Appalachia.”
“ode to the barking rabbit”
Alexander Benedict
Alexander Benedict, English and comparative literature major
Benedict dove into the Beat collection, part of the Rare Book Collection, to give context to his artist book, “ode to the barking rabbit.” The book, published on receipt paper, is a tribute to d.a.levy, a Cleveland Buddhist poet and publisher. It aims to further levy’s literary tradition of community-engaged Buddhist poetry. You can see more of Benedict’s work at betweenthehighway.org.
