Screened In

"Despite its rightful place as a true Southern icon, the Southern front porch has found itself disappearing for years. The child has left and grown but finds fault in what used to bring it comfort. While sitting on her porch, my paternal grandmother once asked me, "Does your mother's house have a porch like mine?" Before I could answer, she spoke up, "No. I suppose it wouldn't; they don't make houses like mine anymore."

‘Screened In’ is an installation of sculptural elements constructed with textiles, fabric, and sewing notions to contextualize the domestic arts and values prevalent in the lives of the women who raised their families from front porches—women like my own grandma Skeett and my great grandma Bea, whose porches inspired this installation.

With these women gone and their porches fading, I use the skills and humor they taught me to create that informal place of belonging that encouraged neighbors to converse, children to come home, and past generations to be remembered. I recontextualize my grandmothers’ powerful domestic teachings in a formal art space to encourage discussion of these missing connections to our home and past and to connect us to the type of community we could have."

— Jasmine Best