A community is made of more than humans. As part of their investigation into the archives of the Henry Sheldon Museum's Stewart-Swift Research Center, collage artists considered what non-human elements shape our communities. When R. Galvan searched the Stewart-Swift Research Center archives for images of men, they found their attention driving to assorted photographs of animals and how people were forming communities around them. Thinking of how the land informs a sense of community, Todd Bartel questions Eurocentric notions of community using an 1859 history of Addison County. In doing this, Bartel asks us to consider how a spirit of Manifest Destiny renders invisible those whose land Europeans “settled” and ultimately their place in community. Taken with the many representations of winter in the archives, the collage of Florida-based Allison Spence speaks to the role the season plays in the collective identity of the community. These collage artists will be joined by Kolaj Institute Coordinator Christopher Kurts whose collage uses a World War II food rationing poster to draw our attention to the role food plays in building community.  Presented in partnership with the KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE.

This program is supported by Walter Cerf Community Fund and Stewart-Swift Research Center donors.