Theodora Skipitares

Grand Panorama


2022, Grand Panorama - Frederick Douglass is widely recognized as the most photographed person in the 19th century. In Grand Panorama, his obsession with photography takes center stage illuminating the power of image to “tell the truth” about humanity and the African-American experience during slavery. Featuring music composed and performed by Mazz Swift (and later by Brittany Harris), Grand Panorama blends art forms such as panorama, magic lantern, shadow theater and crankies to articulate Douglass's belief that “Rightly viewed, the whole soul of man is a sort of picture gallery, a grand panorama.” Puppetry direction by Jane Catherine Shaw.