Introduction

As a dancer and filmmaker, I never thought I'd be taking a graduate-level history course. However, in 2009, I began working with the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks to develop site-specific films through their contemporary arts project. Invitations like this sometimes afford just a month or two of access to the site, but through the generosity of Landmarks, I've been able to deepen my artistic research during the past year and now find myself with a growing body of film work based on contemporary interaction with history.

Currently I am developing a script-based experimental film project sited at the historic Grumblethorpe house in Germantown, Philadelphia. I am also finishing two short films using material shot at Powel House in Society Hill. These short films will complete a cycle of four films that have served as my introduction to public history practices and the role of material culture in shaping narratives at historic sites.

Through my work with Landmarks, I became interested in how historical narratives are built and presented to the public, and how a tendency to make and use narratives to make sense of our world operates in the field of history as well as in film and literature. My films identify narratives without resolving them--a practice I plan to continue and hope to intensity through this Studies in American Material Culture course.

Images from some of my past projects are at jmakary.com.