Vanessa Agard-Jones

Vanessa Agard-Jones

History

Vanessa Agard-Jones is an assistant professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. She's the former managing editor of two journals: Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism and Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society.

Profile

Vanessa Agard-Jones

Movies

Untitled (M*A*S*H)
Leigh’s video work Untitled (M*A*S*H) (2018) imagines a fictive order of black nurses operating on the front of the Korean War, a conflict that began between the United States and North Korea in 1950 and never officially ceased. Like M*A*S*H—the long-running American TV show (1972–83) it parodies—the work directs attention to the overlooked life in the staging grounds. Showcasing the agonizing choices faced by those who staff the tented encampments of war, it perhaps also serves as a reminder that our neighborhoods remain a warfront too. Using only artist’s tools, Leigh asks: How do we transform ourselves and others?