In November 1850, Lewis Minor wrote to University of Virginia professor Dr. John Staige Davis, confirming a delivery was underway. Their letter discussed the clandestine trade of whiskey barrels filled with sawdust and contraband cadavers for anatomical studies— their correspondence referred to the unidentified, stolen remains as a "favorite article of trade." These bodies were often taken from burial grounds dedicated to the enternment of black, brown, and indigenous bodies as well as the remains of the poor, disabled, or unclaimed.
Launching from a photographic reprint of one of University of Virginia’s cadaver clubs, this project is ongoing and in the research and development stage. Supplemented by photographs, letters, and written records, this work hopes to converse on death, the body, social identity, and agency through the use of illstallation, alternative photographic processes, and the acrhive. These elements construct contemporary evidence.
The Department of the Stolen Corporeal was awarded support from Idea Capital in 2025 to advance the research alongside collaborators.
