About the Publication

Developed by Brown University Digital Publications, the multimodal edition employs a Consentful Tech framework, or the intentional development and use of technology to create safety, to prioritize care, and to foreground consent in order to mitigate triggers and trauma. For example, readers are given agency in determining how and for how long they view particularly challenging images. No images of dead bodies have been included, at least not in their original form. Exploring a space between evidence and erasure, we deeply considered how to transform these images for various audiences while intentionally not echoing the trauma. An icon indicates that viewers may opt to see more of an altered image only if they choose to do so. The treatment of bodies borrowed heavily from the Carrie Mae Weems cover art, creating a haunting confrontation that attempts to rewrite harm into regard.

This multimodal edition also includes a Community Engagement Toolkit, a guide to having open conversations about antiblackness, visual culture, and death; a recording of author Kimberly Juanita Brown in conversation with poet Vievee Elaure Francis; and a recording of a cross-disciplinary panel discussion hosted by Brown University Library and featuring Kimberly Juanita Brown, Kim Gallon, Juliet Hooker, Kevin Quashie, and Avery Willis Hoffman.

Special thanks to Crystal Brusch, Jake Camara, Kelly Clifton, Warren Harding, Clare Jones, Olivia Anne Lafferty, Allison Levy, Joe Mancino, and Holiday Shapiro.

Cover art: Carrie Mae Weems, All the Boys (Profile 1), 2016. Courtesy of the artist.

Terms of Use

ISBN: 978-1-948459-09-9
DOI: doi.org/10.26300/bdp.brown.mortevivum

CITATION
Brown, K.J. (2024). Mortevivum. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.26300/BDP.BROWN.MORTEVIVUM

CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE
Licensed under the creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0,
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.