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Slavery’s Ephemera

Interactive journey down the Mississippi river, enabling users to peruse the ephemera of Louisiana plantations.

Year 2006
Format
Website
Credits by Judith Jackson Fossett
Design and Programming by Erik Loyer

An interactive essay which stages reflections upon Louisiana plantation culture on a virtual Mississippi river down which key phrases float and run aground, triggering photographic and prose recollections of the region.  A collaboration with scholar Judith Jackson Fossett.

Video Traversal

A high quality recording of the project as a user might experience it.


Slavery’s Ephemera draws heavily upon photographs taken by the author during recent tours of Louisiana plantations.
Keywords float down a river whose geography is inspired by the Mississippi River, becoming lodged at specific plantation sites along the way.
Each “stuck” keyword provides an opportunity to explore images and text about the site.
Images and text pile up on each other in an evocation of the confounding layering of history and myth in present-day Louisiana.