J Drew Lanham – författare

"In me, there is the red of miry clay, the brown of spring floods, the gold of ripening tobacco. All of these hues are me; I am, in the deepest sense, colored.” From these fertile soils of love, land, identity, family, and race emerges The Home Place, a big-hearted, unforgettable memoir by ornithologist and professor of ecology J. Drew Lanham.Dating back to slavery, Edgefield County, South Carolina—a place "easy to pass by on the way somewhere else"—has been home to generations of Lanhams. In The Home Place, readers meet these extraordinary people, including Drew himself, who over the course of the 1970s falls in love with the natural world around him. As his passion takes flight, however, he begins to ask what it means to be "the rare bird, the oddity.”By turns angry, funny, elegiac, and heartbreaking, The Home Place is a remarkable meditation on nature and belonging, at once a deeply moving memoir and riveting exploration of the contradictions of black identity in the rural South—and in America today.

"In me, there is the red of miry clay, the brown of spring floods, the gold of ripening tobacco. All of these hues are me; I am, in the deepest sense, colored.” From these fertile soils of love, land, identity, family, and race emerges The Home Place, a big-hearted, unforgettable memoir by ornithologist and professor of ecology J. Drew Lanham.Dating back to slavery, Edgefield County, South Carolina—a place "easy to pass by on the way somewhere else"—has been home to generations of Lanhams. In The Home Place, readers meet these extraordinary people, including Drew himself, who over the course of the 1970s falls in love with the natural world around him. As his passion takes flight, however, he begins to ask what it means to be "the rare bird, the oddity.”By turns angry, funny, elegiac, and heartbreaking, The Home Place is a remarkable meditation on nature and belonging, at once a deeply moving memoir and riveting exploration of the contradictions of black identity in the rural South—and in America today.

In keeping with the artist's eclectic style, this lavishly illustrated catalogue features a mix of poetic, narrative, and scholarly perspectives on Nick Cave's Mammoth. Accompanying a landmark exhibition, this publication is a creative excavation of shared and personal memory. Contributions from Sarah Newman, Cherise Smith, Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, and J. Drew Lanham engage themes of identity, environmental crisis, and institutional critique. The catalogue also features a sketchbook-style exploration of Cave's studio and mind, including in-process photography, artist sketches, and handwritten notes. This wide-ranging book represents a significant contribution to scholarship on the artist, and will be a lasting resource for artists, art historians, and general readers. Accompanies the exhibition Nick Cave: Mammoth at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, February 13, 2026 January 3, 2027. AUTHORS: Sarah Newman is James Dicke Curator of Contemporary Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Cherise Smith is professor of African and African Diaspora Studies and Art History at the University of Texas, Austin. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw is associate professor of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania. J. Drew Lanham is professor of Wildlife Ecology at Clemson University, and 2022 MacArthur Fellow. SELLING POINTS: . Nick Cave-born 1959 in Fulton, Missouri, and now active in Chicago, Illinois-is an artist who defies categorization. Working between sculpture, installation, performance, video and fashion, and best known for his exuberant Soundsuits, Cave has long been interested in the intersections of history and identity. . Cave's bronze sculptures, beaded wall hangings, video and found-object assemblages, tell stories of identity, environmental crisis, societal inequality, and institutional history. . Cave's art can be found nationally. Some examples are MOMA, NYC; Brooklyn Museum, NY; Times Square-42nd Street and 42nd Street-Bryant Park stations, New York City; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C; MFA, Boston; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Detroit Institute of Arts; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AR; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, MO; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Birmingham Museum of Art, AL; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. 250 colour illustrations

“You are a rare bird, easy to see but invisible just the same.” That thought is close at hand in Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts, as renowned naturalist and writer J. Drew Lanham explores his obsession with birds and all things wild in a mixture of poetry and prose. He questions vital assumptions taken for granted by so many birdwatchers: can birding be an escape if the birder is not in a safe place? Who is watching him as he watches birds?With a refreshing balance of reverence and candor, Lanham paints a unique portrait of the natural world: listening to cicadas, tracking sandpipers, towhees, wrens, and cataloging fellow birdwatchers at a conference where he is one of two black birders. The resulting insights are as honest as they are illuminating.