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Travels of William Bartram Reconsidered

Bartram's Garden

A segment of the Bartram’s Mile Trail, a 1.55-mile paved recreational trail running throughout Bartram’s Garden. Photo courtesy Bartram’s Garden.

Bartram's Garden commissioned artist Mark Dion to create Travels of William Bartram Reconsidered, a project based on the travels of John and William Bartram, noted early American explorers and naturalists. Dion retraced the Bartrams' travels from Philadelphia to northern Florida, collecting natural specimens and man-made artifacts along the way. Dion then shipped his findings to Philadelphia, where they were displayed at Bartram's Garden, a 45-acre garden and a National Historic Landmark on the banks of the Schuylkill River. The project was curated by Julie Courtney and included a web-based digital publication featuring drawings, photographs, video, audio, and Dion's personal journal.


Recipient
Bartram's Garden

Bartram's Garden

Bartram's Garden is a home for horticulture, the first nationally landmarked landscape, and the oldest surviving botanic garden in North America. The site encompasses the 1728 John Bartram House and farm buildings, a 12-acre historic garden, a 15-acre meadow reclaimed from a former concrete factory, a recreational trail and public dock, community farm, orchard, and food resource center, plant nursery, and the only tidal wetlands on the lower Schuylkill River.

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Explore Connections
Larry W. Cook, Untitled.
National Media Spotlight on Philadelphia’s Cultural Scene
Nels Cline in performance at Royce Hall, Los Angeles. Photo by Phinn Sriployrung.

Guitarist Nels Cline on Musical Lineage
Video Tradition & Translation
Walking with Trane, Urban Bush Women. Photo by Gennia Cui.
Questions of Practice: Choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar on Art and Social Justice
Video Social & Community-Based Practices
Sonia Sanchez. Photo by Erika Vonie.
Celebrating Poet Sonia Sanchez, plus Pew Fellows Earn Guggenheim Fellowships, Peabody Award, and More
Pew Fellows Candice Iloh and Armando Veve. Photos by Neal Santos.

Fellow to Fellow: Candice Iloh and Armando Veve Find Inspiration in Each Other’s Mediums
Interview Cross-Disciplinary Practices
Enrique Bostelmann, Portrait of Cora Flores, 1980, part of Mirages series.

Projects in Process: Discoveries in the Archives with Berman Museum and Japan America Society
Essay Legacy & Archives
Yolanda Wisher, 2022 Philadelphia's Cultural Treasures fellow and 2015 Pew Fellow. Photo by Mark Palacio.
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EgoPo Classic Theater, rehearsal for Ramayana with Papermoon Puppet Theatre and Kalanari Theatre Movement, 2023, Java, Indonesia. Photo courtesy of EgoPo. 

Projects in Process: Wilma Theater and EgoPo on Creative Collaborations
Essay Co-Authorship & Collaboration