In the Finest Amenities, Sheldon Scott examines the relationship of the Potomac and the people of Alexandria through the lens of a historic luxury: ice.
Sheldon builds upon his immersive performance this past April, which was inspired by the history of harvesting ice from the Potomac, and the storage and use of that ice at nearby Gadsby’s Tavern. the Finest Amenities brought together performance, video, installation, photography, and community dialogue. He layered in enslaved narratives and the history and ecology of the river to examine the crucial relationships between race, class, environment, luxury, and consumption.
The exhibition in the New Project Studio (Studio 8) will include ephemera, like Sheldon’s suit, performers’ costumes, and the wheelbarrow, as well as a selection of large-scale photographs and video documentation from April. It will also include further insight into Sheldon’s thoughts and inspirations for the Finest Amenities.
This exhibition is part of the Alexandria Office of the Arts’ Time & Place program. This public-art series seeks to foster a dialogue about our region’s history and its continued reverberations today.
Follow #TimeandPlaceALX for information.
About Sheldon Scott
Born and raised in the Gullah/Geechee Lowcountry of South Carolina in the small town of Pawley’s Island, Sheldon Scott now lives and works in Washington, D.C. as an artist. His work plays in the intersection of race, sexuality and economics, while impugning mythologies of black male supernaturality. Sheldon makes performance, sculpture, installation, photobased work, spoken word, creative nonfiction, objects and ephemera. He is an alumnus of the Capital Fringe Theatre Festival and (e)merge Art Fair. His storytelling has been shared on the stages of Busboys & Poets, Story District, and The Moth, where he serves as host for the DC outpost. Scott’s Fine Art practice has enjoyed exhibits at the WPA Select Auction, Arlington Arts Center, Delaware State University, Goucher University, Art Miami the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, National African Art Museum, Katzen Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. He has been featured in Forbes Magazine, Blouin Art Info, Art 21 and Hyperallergic. His upcoming memoir Shrimp & Griots, is based on his storytelling narratives of the same name. In a quest for truth, Scott hopes to de-silo the disciplines of art, history and science through the use of shared language and practices. ConnerSmith Contemporary represents Scott’s Fine Art works while Ross & Yoon Literary Agency represents his written works.
