Flooded

The Southern front porch exists as both a social stage and a political threshold between the yard and the house. Historically, it was a space of visibility reserved for certain classes and races—offering refuge, leisure, and comfort. As a vernacular form, it is deeply climate-responsive, designed to create shade and capture airflow while mediating between public and private realms. Yet culturally, it has long mediated power as well: a place for gathering, witnessing, resisting, and refusing.

In this context the porch becomes a site where peace and protest coexist. The broken light fixture recalls Picasso’s Guernica, invoking the ongoing urgency of antiwar narratives. Southern food icons like black eyed peas, chicken wings, and watermelon—carried forward as a symbol of Palestinian resilience—also reflects the profound influence of Black food culture on Southern identity, rooting the origin stories of global struggles in local soil.

Location: Historic Bookhammer’s Building, 77 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA, 2024

Partners: CoA Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, The Bakery Atlanta