WADE INS, 2018-2022
STABLE Arts Gallery, Washington DC, 2022
Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, 2022
Live Arts Live, Roski School of Art and Design, University of Southern California, 2021
The Wade Ins project was conceived as a series of gallery exhibitions and public programs by artists Mary Ellen Strom and Danielle Abrams. This four-year research-based art project employed participatory practice to study the long-term effects of racially segregated swimming sites within the Northern and Southern United States, specifically focused on New Orleans’ Lincoln Beach, Washington D.C.’s Anacostia Pool and Boston’s Carson Beach. The Wade Ins exhibitions propose a reconsideration of these segregated swimming sites, through the social transformations and social costs ignited by “wade-in” resistance. These inter-textual exhibitions were produced in conversation with numerous individuals with ties to and lived histories in Boston, Massachusetts, New Orleans, Louisiana and Washington, DC., including past and current day residents, activists, organizers, historians and policy makers.
Anacostia Pool, two channel 4K, video projection, 9 feet x 64 feet
Advisors and Guides: Alcione Amos and Samir Meghelli, Curators, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian; Kenneth Carroll, poet and educator; Dr. Jessica Grieser, linguist and author “The Black Side of the River”; Ebony Rosemond, founder of Black Kids Swim; Kubie Rudd, American University, Gail Shaw-Clemons, artist and activist; Claudia Watts, Alper Initiative Scholar, American University..
Carson Beach, two channel 4K, video projection, 9 feet x 64 feet
Advisors and Guides:: Leon Rock, Columbia Point Projects Youth Organizer and advisor to the 1975 NAACP President Thomas Atkins; writer, Michael Patrick McDonald author, “All Souls: A Family Story from Southie” and advocate for survivor families in Boston's anti-violence movement; Alicia Baez, Therapeutic Mentor, Children’s Services of Roxbury; Caitlyn Murphy, Teacher Boston Public Schools and director South Boston Neighborhood House’s after school program; Former Mayor, Kim Janey, President of Economic Mobility Pathways.
Advisors and Guides: Research conducted by Danielle Abrams. Mr. Leon Waters, historian, activist, griot; Midlo Center of New Orleans Studies, University of New Orleans; Sage Michael Pellett, Healthy Gulf’s New Orleans Climate Justice Organizer, Healthy Gulf; Carrollton/Hollygrove Senior Center Community.
Alicia and Caitlyn, two channel 4K, video installation, two 70” vertical screens
Alicia Baez, grew up in Roxbury, attended South Boston High School, currently works as a Therapeutic Mentor at Children’s Services of Roxbury; Caitlyn Murphy, grew up and resides in South Boston. She is a public school educator, youth advocate and director South Boston Neighborhood House’s after school programs.
WATERMARK has been supported by the Anti-Racist Research and Policy Center at American University; EATON Workshop; Live Arts Boston, The Boston Foundation; The Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts; Pauli Murray Residency; Roski School of Art and Design, University of Southern California; STABLE Arts; Media Arts and Performance at School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University; Tufts University Research Advancement Funds from the Office of the Vice Provost for Research; Tufts University Faculty Research Awards Committee.
Exhibition Research and Production: Flor Delgadillo and Alonso Nichols, Research and Production Assistants; Billy Foshay, sound, lighting, assistant editor; Alonso Nichols, photo portraits, camera operator; Robert Ochshorn, text animation; Stephen St. Francis Decky, installation with Joseph Carlson-Strom.
Special thanks to: Barbara Brizuela, Patte Chang, Zoë Charlton, Kaitlyn Clark, Jane Chin Davidson, Jackie Dejean, Tim Doud, Maleke Glee, Jen Richardson-Greene, Randi Hopkins, Sara Kaplan, Jeannie Simms, Julia Szenjnblum, Kenson Truong, Wilfredo Vallardes.