Gianofer Fields is the creator of a new website called It's a Material World, dedicated to connecting professors, designers, and students. In her words, "Material Culture is living Anthropology. It's an opportunity to examine the objects we keep near to us, while we are still alive to enjoy the conversation. itsamaterialworld.org is a website that brings these conversations to life. It's a virtual exhibit, a multi-media exploration of the everyday and evocative objects which fill our lives." Fields investigates ordinary objects, researching them and interviewing others on the object's cultural significance. She has completed two so far, one centering on the valentine and another focusing on a death doll.
This project grew out of classes taken with the Material Culture Program and out of Fields' long career in radio, where she worked as an arts and culture reporter and correspondent for Chicago's National Public Radio affiliate stations. In 2007, she won the Chicago Headline Club's Peter Lisagor Award for exemplary journalism with a piece on Mary Todd Lincoln. Gianofer currently works as an independent arts and culture producer and correspondent, writing and producing both long and short segments for Wisconsin Public Radio. In addition to local segments, she has partnered with the British Broadcasting Corporation, doing field recordings and interviews for Americana, a show on contemporary American life.
Just heard you on WUWM, and am fascinated.
ReplyDeleteOn to your blog now.
Thank you for the enthusiasm and passion you bring to the subject of how we bury ourselves in things we think we MUST have.