Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Loyal reader Leigh Anne of the Dry Goods Shop on Haywood Road in West Asheville:
March 1st 7-9pm 474 Haywood Rd.
Beautiful Possibility is a traveling exhibition and research project by Alison Pebworth that takes the prototype of the 19th century American Traveling show as inspiration for engaging others about what it means to be American. The project launched from Southern Exposure in San Francisco in March 2010 and toured from California to South Dakota in the seven months that followed. A second tour commenced in April 2012 from South Dakota to the East Coast before turning southward in 2013, to arrive in Asheville March 1.
The touring project consists of a series of hand painted canvas banners, a tour map and a survey station. Pebworth physically tours the show, living in a travel trailer for this solo journey, playfully assuming multiple roles as historian, field sergeant or conjurer to present work that focuses on hands-on interactions and DIY aesthetics.
The Exhibition:
Drawing upon the nostalgic allure of the circus and Wild West show, itinerant explorers, and Chauttauqua lecturers, Pebworth travels with an exhibition of ten painted narrative banners that mix eras and integrate obscure and popular American figures and myths to make history laden comments on contemporary culture.
An interactive survey station illuminates a once popularly recognized nervous condition known as “Americanitis,” first described in 1861 by neurologist George M. Beard and later exploited by Medicine Shows that peddled Americanitis Elixirs to “relieve stress and calm the nerves.” From coast to coast, in rural and urban settings, survey participants weigh in on whether Americanitis is a recognizable ailment today and opine on possible causes, symptoms, and cures.
Also on exhibit is the Neo-Pilgrim’s Road Map to Lost America, a large painted map that replaces contemporary state and national borders of North America with pre-European native territories overlaid with the contemporary highway system. The Beautiful Possibility Tour routes are documented on this map as it progresses.
Visit www.beautifulpossibilitytour.com to follow the journey
