From This Valley We Soon Will Be Leaving

From This Valley We Soon Will Be Leaving brings together drawings, rubbings, and prints by Sam van Strien that explore the lasting legacy of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the sweeping New Deal program that transformed the Southeastern United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Through electrification, dam construction, and flood control, the TVA transformed the region into a symbol of modernization and economic growth. Yet beneath this narrative of progress lies another history – one marked by displacement, submerged towns, and the erasure of homes, lives, and memories.

Working through processes of tracing and imprint, van Strien approaches the landscape and built environment as both archive and witness. Architectural fragments and material impressions become records of what was built, what was lost, and what continues to linger beneath the surface. The works hold tension between progress and loss, preservation and displacement, asking how histories of progress are remembered and at what cost.

Central to van Strien’s exploration is an ongoing series of charcoal rubbings and laser-cut engravings that create tactile representations of cabin structures from the Museum of Appalachia. These homes, which were displaced and relocated during the construction of TVA dam projects, serve as a powerful lens to examine the region’s architectural heritage. Their preservation speaks to the tension between large-scale state initiatives, the demands of capitalism, and the resilience of regional culture. By transferring the weathered cabin’s physicality onto paper, van Strien creates a surface that serves as both memorial and confrontation, preserving the traces of people and places submerged in the pursuit of modernization.

From This Valley We Soon Will Be Leaving brings into conversation New Deal-era infrastructure projects from nearly a century ago with contemporary debates surrounding AI data centers. It asks who benefits from large-scale development, which communities bear its costs, and how landscapes, resources, and local histories are reshaped in the process. The project reflects on the ways infrastructure alters not only land, architecture, and waterways, but also collective memory, inheritance, and our sense of place. Through this work, Sam van Strien examines the enduring connections between infrastructure, displacement, memory, and place in Southern Appalachia.