Artist Talk with Jabari Jefferson on "Who Is Edith Hern Fossett?"

In this special program moderated by Auriana Woods, Director of the Getting Word African American History Department at Monticello, Jefferson will explore the inspiration, research, and creative process behind the piece, which brings to life his contemporary interpretation of Edith Hern Fossett, an enslaved French-trained chef who served at the White House during Jefferson's presidency and later ran the kitchen at Monticello. Hern Fossett was sold from her husband and children after Jefferson's death, but was later able to gain her freedom and reunite with most of her family in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Through his work, Jefferson invites audiences to reflect on Fossett’s life, labor, and legacy, offering a contemporary artistic perspective on a historical figure whose story continues to resonate today. The talk will include insights into Jefferson’s artistic practice and his deep connection to Monticello as a descendant of Monticello’s enslaved community. Following the talk, Jefferson and Woods will take guests in to tour the new gallery spaces and see the artwork displayed.

This program offers a unique chance to connect art, history, and storytelling while engaging directly with the artist.

About the Speaker

Jabari Jefferson is a mixed media oil painter based in Washington DC. Jefferson’s vibrant multimedia paintings and sculptures are layered with found mixed media material such as books, fabric, paper, ink, acrylic and oil paints. His mixed media process involves recycling, repurposing, and recontextualizing discarded items into contemporary art. Jefferson’s works are comprised of painted figures, mixed media surroundings, and materials including previously owned clothes, children's books, paper collage and other found objects collected throughout his travels. His process involves searching local communities for once owned items and repurposing them into usable pieces that add to his overall palette of materials. Inspired by ritualistic practices, Jabari believes in the transfer of energy in the materials from their previous owners. His subject matter ranges from esoteric existences to racial politics and focuses on themes of: self-engagement, self education, exploration of Black culture and history, spirituality, and mythology. Much of his work exclusively features Black subjects together with one another or by one’s self. 

Spanning across his different bodies of work, his subjects are surrounded by an array of shapes, recognizable objects, or landscapes that fluently move in and out of expressionism and abstraction. His recognizable maximalist approach allows for him to leave clues to his influences discreetly placed amongst the plethora of material that compose his works.

About the Moderator

Auriana Woods is a historian of 19th century African American life and the Director of the Getting Word African American History Department at Monticello. While her work spans Black American history from slavery to freedom, her focus is on fugitive kinship practices, family separation, and the forced migration of enslaved people from the Upper South to the Lower South and westward between 1800-1860.

 As a public-facing historian, Auriana works to reconstruct our collective understanding of American history and identity through filling historic silences with African American family narratives, emphasizing their centrality in the founding era and positioning chattel slavery as a founding national institution. She is particularly intent on “re-membering” the histories of individuals who have been invisibilized by the violence of traditional archives, and engages in a historical practice that “challenges the known and the unknowable.” Auriana is a graduate of Columbia University’s Oral History M.A. Program (2022 cohort) and Brown University (class of 2019), where she concentrated in Africana Studies.

Monticello gratefully acknowledges the partnership of More Perfect in our 250th anniversary initiatives.