A VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Jessica Harvey

By digging through public and private archives, Jessica Harvey conducts long-term investigations of natural, historical, and personal events, paying close attention to the interpretation of facts, which often change based on the narrator. She illustrates these stories using photography, video, archival resources, and objects constructed from everyday materials. Her images and installations act as a catalyst for the fantastical exploration of the psychology that one attaches to memory and place, putting a particular emphasis on the role of women in these histories. Through humor and tragedy, Harvey creates a new way of re-evaluating life, death, and the mythology of our own history.

Harvey received an MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art and was awarded a Fulbright Grant to Iceland. She has attended residencies at Ox-Bow, Wassaic, MASS MoCA, ACRE, Anderson Ranch, The Luminary, LATITUDE, and Vermont Studio Center. She has exhibited at Circle Contemporary (Chicago, IL), The Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY), The Franklin (Chicago, IL), Coop Gallery (Nashville, TN), Gilcrease Museum (Tulsa, OK), Camayuhs (Atlanta, GA), Heaven Gallery (Chicago, IL), The Luminary (St. Louis, MO), Good Weather (Little Rock, AR), and ACRE Projects (Chicago, IL). She is currently a 2020 recipient of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship.

Trace

For her project, Trace, artist Jessica Harvey installs historical markers at sites throughout Tulsa in her effort to interrogate what is remembered and what is erased in the process of commemoration. Harvey not only places these markers at iconic places such as the original location of the Drexel Building, the site of the inciting incident of the Tulsa Race Massacre but also along the highway and railroad tracks that separate historic Greenwood from the rest of Tulsa.

Viewers are invited to consider how these sites often work to perpetuate racism. Newsstands will also be used to distribute free print takeaways filled with photography, writing, and archival materials. In selecting unorthodox locations as places of reflection, Harvey invites viewers to consider how commemoration itself also erases critical pieces of the narrative.

Trace will be installed at locations throughout Tulsa from May 26 through August 1.

Locations:

  • Historic Greenwood Location 1: 422 N Main St, Tulsa, OK (outside of OK Pop museum site)

  • Historic Greenwood Location 2: Riverside Parks East Trail (where Rt. 66, I-244, and the river intersect with the Riverside W. and Newblock Park Trail)

  • Historic Greenwood Location 3: Reconciliation Way and Elgin Ave.

  • Historic Greenwood Location 4: 105 Reconciliation Way (outside of Tulsa Theatre, formerly Brady Theatre)

  • Historic Greenwood Location 5: Reconciliation Way and Denver Ave.