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Sauda Mitchell
Website: https://www.saudamitchell.com
Instagram: @saudamitchell
BIO
Sauda Mitchell is a certified archivist, educator, and visual artist. Sauda’s work utilizes printmaking and QR code technology as a creative, non-traditional access method linking viewers to archival repositories, curated exhibitions, and aggregated data. Each work serves as a visual response to archival collection materials representative of the many stories deep within the archival landscape. Sauda is represented by Booklyn with select artist books held in the permanent collections of institutions, including Wake Forest ZSR Special Collections, SCAD Museum of Art, MIT, Harvard University, Smithsonian Libraries, and The Library of Congress.Sauda is the Samuel T. Gladding Book Artist in Residence at Wake Forest University ZSR Library from Fall 2024-Spring 2025. Current exhibitions: Crossing the Line: The Passport Re-Imagined, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“I am trying something more difficult than ever before.”
[Hurston, Z.N. handwritten and signed letter to Margrit Sabloniere], Zora Neale Hurston Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
As an archivist and artist, I’ve often asked myself if the duality of artistic freedom and the neutrality of archival work can coexist. I believe that it can. Artists' books are vital to critical thinking. Through physical engagement they not only unveil stories but reveal the creative processes of those who create them. Anthropologist, author, and ethnographer Zora Neale Hurston devoted her life to chasing the whispers of people from the African Diaspora. Zora boldly harnessed their essence for us to cherish forever through the dialect embedded in the pages of her novels and short stories. As a youth, I read Their Eyes Were Watching God since then, I’ve relished any time spent with Zora’s writings.
What lies at the intersection of the African American collective memory, archival activism, and the book arts? As we create, what dreams do we dream along the way? In the Fall of 2022, I investigated these questions and more as I poured over Zora Neale Hurston’s papers as the recipient of the 2022-2023 Coffey Residency for Book Arts at the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida. My research involved analyzing the collection as the impetus of my next artist book edition. Each day I gleaned inspiration from Zora’s photographs, newspaper clippings, ephemera, and papers rescued from a fire following her death in 1960. My curiosity peaked when I landed on Twelve boxed volumes of an unpublished manuscript by Zora Neale Hurston entitled The Life of Herod the Great.
In the latter stages of Zora’s life, she felt compelled to investigate what she believed was the true character of King Herrod. The result of Zora’s research and analysis fills five boxed volumes of the collection. I understood it would be impossible to attempt to synthesize the last great work of Zora Neale Hurston and translate this work into a work of art in book form. Why would I? The weight of these volumes speak for themselves. I continued searching for the right angle to introduce what I'd just learned. In a separate box was a Green sketchbook. It contains handwritten notes about Herod the Great; I was intrigued. The sketchbook captures glimpses of Zora’s research and describes the visual environment of Herod the Great. God’s Battle Axe pays homage to Zora Neale Hurston’s inspiration and creative process for her last manuscript, Herod the Great, and the courage to deviate from her previously accepted canonical work.
Materiality, physical weight, and Zora’s own words written in a letter to Margrit Sabloniere all serve as mechanisms speaking to the final work. The exclosure for God’s Battle Axe is a 5 pound velvet reliquary that transports one to a time of impeccable fashion during the Harlem Renaissance, as can be seen throughout the photographic series of the collection. Pinned on each edition, a different broch nestled in the ruched enclosure top. From the pages of this Green sketchbook I lifted Zora’s vision for this historic environment to include the Ochre color she envisioned in King Herod’s world, the mosaics she saw lining the streets, and columns that stood tall in the sun. What I believe lies at the intersection of the African American collective memory, archival activism, and the book arts is a way to see, feel, and honor those who’ve come before us.
ARTIST'S WORK
Note: ‘God’s Battle Axe’ was completed following research of Zora Neale Hurston’s papers (MS Group 006) to include the unpublished manuscripts ‘Herod the Great’ (in particular, Hurston’s sketchbook for ‘Herod’) at the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida in the Fall of 2023. A special thank you to UF Special Area Studies faculty members Ellen Knudson, Associate in Book Arts, and Florence Turcotte, Literary Collections Archivist.
Edition: 5
Collections Held: George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, Edition 1 of 5
Size: Dimensions 7" x 10" 6" H
Weight: 4.5 Pounds
Media: Wood, concrete, caulk, pigments (watercolor, pen and ink, acrylic), textile (velvet), faux ostrich feathers, artifacts (vintage brooch), glass (mosaic tiles), linoleum, printmaking ink, paper, black and white archival photo prints.
Year: 2023
LINKS
University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries, Coffey Residency for Book Arts
https://coffeyresidency.domains.uflib.ufl.edu/2022-2023-sauda-mitchell/
Zora Neale Hurston Trust: “It’s All About Zora” Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bJYIpDoVss
Zora Neale Hurston Summit 2025 Barnard College
https://barnard.edu/news/barnard-host-first-zora-neale-hurston-summit
Image 1. [Herod the Great] Zora Neale Hurston Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Image 2. [Green Sketch Book] Zora Neale Hurston Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Image 3. [Green Sketch Book Opened] Zora Neale Hurston Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Image 4. Zora Neale Hurston and God's Battle Axe Enclosure
Image 5. God's Battle Axe Enclosure (top)
Image 6. God's Battle Axe_ Enclosure (open)
Image 7. God's Battle Axe Book (closed)
Image 8. God's Battle Axe Colophon
Image 9. Quote from [Green Sketch Book] Zora Neale Hurston Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Image 10. Interior Page_ QR Code linking to [Margrit Sabloniere Letter] Zora Neale Hurston Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
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