Beverly Buchanan, Athens, GA, 8 July 1995: A Video by Judith McWillie

A distinctively immersive record of two Southern artists in dialogue with each other, concerning the artistic process, Black vernacular architecture and historic preservation

On July 8, 1995, Judith McWillie (born 1946) brought her camcorder to Beverly Buchanan’s (1940–2015) Athens, Georgia home studio and recorded a two-hour video of their spirited exchange. The resulting unedited, experimental documentary offers an extraordinary portrait of both artists, singular in its situatedness and relationality. This book translates and poetically interprets McWillie's intimate primary document through an edited transcription, broken up into scenes, illustrated with video stills and annotated with contextual information. The introductory essay reflects on the enduring impact of the Black vernacular architect Mary Lou Furcron on both artists, and their converging efforts to trouble dominant hierarchies. Companion materials feature reproductions and transcribed texts from Buchanan's and McWillie's multi-disciplinary tributes to Furcron, further illuminating the role of the camera in their practices of remembrance, reverence and refusal.