Art professor Jeremy Drummond awarded Mednick Memorial Fellowship for sensory deprivation project

Jeremy Drummond, professor of studio art at the University of Richmond, has been awarded the Mednick Memorial Fellowship by the Virginia Foundation of Independent Colleges (VFIC).

The fellowship will support “Nothing, Still Nothing,” Drummond’s audio-video project that critically examines relationships between human creativity, sensory deprivation and solitary confinement.

The visual component of the project will be recorded at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia as well as Banff National Park in Canada, the wetlands of Florida and the deserts of New Mexico. Performance-based sequences and audio comprised of site-relevant background noises, both real and imagined, will form the basis of an open-ended narrative structure.

Drummond says, “As a whole, it is my intention to produce a work that places our natural human capacity and necessity for external information within an unnatural environment. Moving between seemingly real and imagined spaces and sounds, this piece may be perceived as somewhat poetic in nature. However, due to our ongoing utilization of solitary confinement, it is my hope that social and political interpretations will also formulate.”

Drummond has taught at the University of Richmond since 2005 and has received several awards and fellowships. His video and photo-based work has been exhibited in festivals, galleries, and museums worldwide and is held in many public and private collections.

The Maurice L. Mednick Memorial Fellowship was created in 1967. Recipients use funds for professional development through research and advanced study.

###