Objects in the installation

International Relations/Planter’s Tin Box

Pennies with cotton lie in a found tin box with Queen Elizabeth II’s image. The work calls to mind the close relationship between cotton planters in the South and the manufacturers of England. It was the hope of the planters that England would intervene in the Civil War on the South’s sie.

Homecoming Celebration

Six plates are set on the house museum table. They have a W monogram and images of the two matriarchs I honor at the heads of the table. The one facing us is Lucy Wallace Baker and, at the other end, is Kate Henderson Wallace. The plates on the side have images from the homecoming celebrations that include their descendants. The images are fired on decals on Lenox Eternal china, sourced at a resale shop.

White Debt

The decal images fired onto this found plate are of John Mallory, the last caretaker of the Wallace House, on Easter Sunday, 1954. He lived in the one room (no heat or air conditioning, no water or plumbing) galvanized metal building over the antebellum root cellar (now called the John Mallory House). He is pictured by himself in the center of the plate with my grandmother on the left and me on the right, both holding Easter baskets. The back porch of the Wallace House is visible behind us. Graphic decal images of kudzu with a cotton pattern partially conceal the images. The term “White Debt” is from Eula Biss. She notes that debt can be repaid, whereas guilt stops one from acting.