FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 28, 2020
STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Artist H. Jennings Sheffield will give a public Zoom lecture at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, about her photographic series on the land and people of Tangier Island.
The exhibit, “Going Away from Here,” is on display at the Tarleton Art Gallery.
The lecture is open to anyone interested in connecting through Zoom. Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://tarleton.zoom.us/j/2453706663.
Sheffield has spent much of the last three years photographing and studying Tangier Island, off the coast of Virginia in Chesapeake Bay. It is home to fewer than 500 — mainly crabbers, or families of crabbers, who speak a dialect barely untouched by outside influence since the island was first inhabited nearly 250 years ago.
Due to a combination of climate-accelerated sea-level rise and erosion, Tangier Island is projected to be uninhabitable in 50 years if nothing is done.
“When the residents are forced to evacuate, they will spread out over Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina,” Sheffield said. “We will lose an entire culture of people as unique as their dialect, and although they will still exist, the land they have called home for hundreds of years will not. This once untouched and proud crabbing community is predicted to be one of America’s first ‘climate change refugees.’”
Born in Richmond, Va., Sheffield is a contemporary artist working in lens-based media, video and sound. She is an Associate Professor of Art at Baylor University.
Her work is in several collections throughout the United States and has been exhibited internationally.
For more information, contact Chris Ireland at [email protected].
Tarleton, founding member of The Texas A&M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven education marked by academic innovation and a dedication to transform today’s scholars into tomorrow’s leaders. It offers degree programs to more than 14,000 students at Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian, RELLIS Academic Alliance in Bryan, and online, emphasizing real-world learning experiences that address societal needs while maintaining its core values of tradition, integrity, civility, excellence, leadership and service.
Contact: Phil Riddle
817-484-4415
[email protected]