Public Square, 2025
HD Video, sound, color.
3 minutes
Public Square frames Savannah’s squares as a living archive, unfolding how the city’s urban design holds spatial ideologies that guide how residents navigate public spaces. Savannah’s plan has been debated as either an ideal civic society or an expression of military strategy. Often regarded for its potential to infinitely expand by cellular replication, historians argue the design was originally conceived to achieve agrarian equality.
The artist collaborates with six local residents to translate the personal and historical into landscapes of collective memory. Structured as a grid, the film observes how residents inhabit, resist, and reinterpret public space. Drawing from these lived experiences, it becomes clear that public wealth is the most effective means of summoning a public defense.
Thank you to the participants: Danielle Hodes, Ashley Jackson, Kate Lacivita, Jana Marie Cariddi, Luciana Spracher, and Jalynn Young.