In our Spring 2022 Issue, Southern Cultures examines crafts—from the art of repair to living and dyeing in Swananoa, North Carolina, and from Bahamian beekeeping to barbecuing and meatcraft across the region.
“For over six decades, craft has pulled me into a troubled and complicated American South where objects offer hints of meaning and voices of long-ago makers visible in stitches and thumbprints.”
"The sad state of Spam fresh from the can is legendary. Yet the physical appearance of home-cured and factory processed meats belies other kinds of appeal.”
“These objects were not gifts of gratitude, but gifts intended to influence policy and practice.”
“Mending and maintaining objects is ultimately an act and expression of care for the thing itself—for the customer, for the environment.”
“It is like alchemy to collect weeds, the plants that almost no one wants, and cook them up to create beautiful colors.”
“We are all makers, constantly using tangible and intangible tools to craft our reality.”
“Research has revealed the names of more than 200 African American craftspeople working in stoneware manufacturing in the Edgefield District of South Carolina, a legacy spanning three generations.”
“What do we mean by ‘craft,’ and should it apply to making barbecue?”
“When detached from a complex past, Foxfire contributes to the construction of an imagined and static white Appalachia.”
“In a dream, you could do that. Hug someone you haven’t seen in years without crying.”
