About the Project 

Sweet Chariot was an interactive video scavenger hunt, conceptualized and directed by artist Marisa Williamson. Using the Sweet Chariot image-recognition smartphone app and scratch-off map, audiences were invited to uncover a series of site-specific videos that revealed hidden moments in the landscape of historic Philadelphia, opening a window onto the African American struggle for freedom. The journey began in historic Washington Square, and invited viewers to look for clues hiding in plain sight, including images on signs, plaques, and murals. Each unlocked video presented a creative and collaborative interpretation of a story from Philadelphia’s African American history. As viewers experienced each video on location, the ultimate goal was to follow protagonist Amelia Brown (inhabited by Williamson) on her way “home” through interactions with historic figures such as Margaret Forten, Octavius Catto, and W.E.B. DuBois. Brown was based on a real Philadelphian whose gravestone was excavated in a former burial ground for Mother Bethel AME Church under current-day Weccacoe Park.