Hard to Get and Dear Paid For is a multimedia project in progress that will ultimately take shape as a short film, artist book, multimedia exhibition, and a series of site specific public hikes. The work in Heartlines is an emergent iteration of this project.  

Hard to Get and Dear Paid For explores the life and legacy of Enoch George Howard, who was born enslaved in 1814 near Unity, Maryland. In his lifetime, Howard came to own the land where he and his family were held captive, including a parcel called Hard to Get and Dear Paid For.  

At death, Howard left his estate to his children. His daughter Martha sold her portion of the land to her brother, and used the proceeds to invest in her husband’s business: the Afro American Newspaper. Today, the Afro is one of the country’s most prominent Black newspapers. It is still owned and operated by Enoch George’s descendants. Howard’s land, however, is now owned by the state and managed by Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources. 

Using Howard’s life story as a narrative anchor, this project explores major themes in American history, including: how we mythologize historical figures; land stewardship and veneration practices; the diasporic legacy of the Underground Railroad; and familial dynamics between enslavers and the enslaved.  

 This project is grounded in historical research and informed by contemporary interviews with key stakeholders. 

Artist Bio

Savannah Wood is an artist and cultural organizer with deep roots in Baltimore and Los Angeles. Wood works primarily in photography, text and installation to explore spirituality, domesticity, and identity-formation, often in relation to place. She combines new and old works with found objects and archival documents to create unique, accumulative installations that privilege non-linear notions of time. 

Major themes in her work include ancestral research, reframing land as a readable archive of historical activity, and reimagining humans as part of, rather than separate from, the natural world. Her projects reconnect people with the everyday beauty of our world and the histories that lie hidden just below its surface. She approaches this work with curiosity and reverence. 

As the Executive Director of Afro Charities, Wood is creating infrastructure to increase access to the 130-year-old AFRO American Newspapers’ extensive archives. In this role, she has shepherded the organization through a period of historic growth, initiated new programming, and attracted support from national funders including the Mellon Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and #StartSmall, Jack Dorsey’s philanthropic initiative. 

Wood is a graduate cum laude of the University of Southern California. She is a 2022 Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund fellow, 2022 Creative Capital finalist, and a 2019 - 2021 Robert W. Deutsch Foundation fellow. Like four generations of ancestors before her, she lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland, sharing and preserving Black stories. 

Savannah Wood, Still from Hard to Get and Dear Paid for (Projection Cut), 2020, Digital video, 4:13 

Savannah Wood, Still from Hard to Get and Dear Paid for (Projection Cut), 2020, Digital video, 4:13