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Centuries’ worth of stories left untold by the millions of enslaved men, women and children linger among the cypress trees and cotton fields of the American Deep South. “Woven Wind,” led by 91�Ʋ��� Professor of Art ,, is a collaborative research project that weaves together archival research, community engagement and artistic expression to create a vibrant tapestry of remembrance and reconciliation, honoring these untold stories and empowering the descendants of enslaved people.

Since it began six years ago, “” has received several significant grants, the most recent being this month’s 18-month, $40,000 grant from the . Earlier grants, such as the Tennessee Arts Commission Arts Access Grant in 2022 and Mellon Partners for Humanities Education Collaboration Grant, in partnership with Tennessee State University, in 2021, helped support the NEA grant application.

The success of the NEA grant was also bolstered by a in 2022, which helped further develop the project and enhance its competitiveness for federal funding.

“Woven Wind” brings together a diverse array of institutions and disciplines. While 91�Ʋ���, through Pavlović, has been central to the project, other institutions have played major roles as well.

has contributed significantly through community engagement and curatorial expertise via the . The (Sewanee) has provided archival access and historical research. , from , helped facilitate with the descendant communities.

“Vesna’s powerful and important work sheds light on a lost part of our country’s history,” said Timothy P. McNamara, dean of the College of Arts and Science. “Through the ‘Woven Wind’ project, she expertly blends research, history, the community and visual art to bring these human stories to life.”

“Woven Wind” began in fall 2018, when Pavlović joined the at Sewanee, which was investigating Sewanee’s historical ties to slavery. The work led to the in the university’s archives, containing extensive documents and plantation records related to the Lovell-Quitman family of Natchez, Mississippi, who were closely connected to the university after the Civil War.

“We see the papers and diaries detailing the lives of the donor family … (but) we know nothing about the enslaved. We learn their names, their value, their age,” from the plantation inventories, but nothing else, Pavlović said. As an immigrant and artist specializing in photographic archives, Pavlović was both captivated and challenged by the task of honoring these narratives without perpetuating historical trauma. “I grappled with how to approach this project and do it justice.”

Sarah Hawkins and Lyndell Calhoun Robinson during the Natchez Oral Histories recordings videoed in 2021. (Via Vesna Pavlović)

One of the many pages of inventory of the enslaved from 1858 after John A. Quitman’s death. (The Lovell Family Papers at the William R. Laurie University Archives and Special Collections, The University of the South)

From The Lovell Family Papers at the William R. Laurie University Archives and Special Collections, The University of the South. (Vesna Pavlović)

Students at Sewanee researched inventories listing the names and estimated ages of hundreds of enslaved people forced to work the Quitman family’s five plantations. They turned that research into a 45-minute spoken word performance intended to honor those individuals, who will never be known beyond the document. That was the first public display for “Woven Wind.”

“‘Woven Wind’ is a living, breathing project that evolves with each exhibition, workshop and performance,” Pavlović said.

As a living project, “Woven Wind” has evolved through phases of deep listening and engagement with descendants of those enslaved on the Quitman plantations. Pavlović wove a new fabric of narratives culminating in a series of oral history recordings and a poignant 35-minute film, “Toles Family Going Home,” which premiered in 2023. The film highlights the voices of the descendants with their stories of resilience and reclamation. Pavlović had logistical support for the project from the . Her collaborators were Nashville artist Courtney Adair Johnson, director of TSU’s Hiram Van Gordon Gallery; genealogist Jan Hillegas, who specializes in Mississippi African American family history; and community advocate Short-Colomb.

The term “Woven Wind” has been used to describe fine cotton fabric, like muslin, symbolizing the light and airy nature of textiles. The project reinterprets this metaphor, historically linked to slavery through cotton, into a symbol that weaves together diverse narratives from the past and present.

In the project’s evolution, another powerful symbol emerged—cypress knees, a woody outgrowth of a cypress tree’s shallow, horizontal roots that extend above the normal water level, allowing the trees to live submerged in the plantations’ swamps. For Pavlović, they represent the resilience of the enslaved and their descendants. The creation of abstract clay vessels that represent these knees by community members during workshops serves as an act of reparative justice. “Each vessel, whether hollow, wheel-thrown or hand-built, carries the weight of collective memory and individual interpretation,” Pavlović said. She describes these objects as “family members,” bearing the “fingerprints and emotional traces of their creators.”

Archival pigment print using clay derived from Mississippi River Photographs of clay vessels symbolically carry the voices of the enslaved. (Vesna Pavlović)

In the spring of 2023, Vesna Pavlović and her team of collaborators invited community members to create clay vessels representing cypress tree roots at the Buchanan Arts Center in Nashville, TN. (Photo by Lesa Dowdy)

Present day view of the Davis Bend, site of Palmyra plantation, formerly owned by slaveowner and Mississippi governor John A. Quitman. Today Davis Bend is cut off off from the mainland and hardly accessible. Nature has reclaimed much of the land claiming the graves the enslaved who gained ownership of the island after the civil war ended. (Photo by Vesna Pavlović)

Currently, Pavlović is experimenting with materials bound to the geographical and historical context of the stories. Using Mississippi River clay to create special inks for printing photographs of the clay vessels, she connects the stories and artwork through the physical landscape.

With the recently announced NEA funding, the future of “Woven Wind” is bright with a scheduled performance and exhibition at Nashville’s next year. The event will feature new edits for the Toles video, a live music performance by Rod McGaha and the First Amendment ensemble an integrated exhibition that further explores the themes of memory, identity and reparative history. Photographs printed with the Mississippi River clay-based ink will be on view at the 91�Ʋ��� University Museum of Art in parallel with the NMAAM exhibition.

“Woven Wind” exemplifies the power of art to bridge the gaps between past and present, serving as a catalyst for community healing and historical reevaluation. By transforming archival materials into dynamic expressions of art and memory, Pavlović and her team invite us to reconsider what we think we know about history and engage with it in profoundly new ways.

About Scaling Success and 91�Ʋ��� Development and Support

The is an internal funding award designed to support faculty in scaling up to increasingly impactful team research, scholarship and creative works, including securing larger awards from external sponsors like the NEA. This program aids faculty on projects that have already attracted interest from federal, foundation or industry sponsors, helping to further develop the project or team before formal submission. , within the , assists faculty by coordinating funding opportunities, developing strategic sponsor relationships and diversifying funding portfolios. For more information, email rds@vanderbilt.edu