Beverly Buchanan

An illustrated examination of Beverly Buchanan's 1981 environmental sculpture, which exists in an ongoing state of ruination.Marsh Ruins (1981) is an environmental sculpture by the African American artist Beverly Buchanan. Located in in the marshlands in Brunswick, on the coast of Georgia, the work consists of three solid mounds of rock, accompanied by a roughly modelled plaque bearing the artist's signature. Marsh Ruins is designed to blend in with its surroundings, conditioned by environmental forces--to exist in a state of ongoing ruination. This volume in Afterall's One Work series offers a detailed, generously illustrated examination of Marsh Ruins.In Marsh Ruins, Buchanan makes implicit reference to the many plantations, sustained by the labor of enslaved people, that once occupied the area around Brunswick--both through her choice of location and her use of tabby, a type of concrete commonly used for building structures on plantations. Buchanan said adamantly that she did not want Marsh Ruins to become a tourist attraction, and its subtle presence is precisely the opposite; the shifting rhythms of light, season, weather, and climate determine how the work appears, and how it gradually disappears.