Remembering the Accused
Memory of the Accused
Digital Collage
2025
This image, Memory of the Accused, is the frontispiece of the series. It is a digital collage combining a self-portrait with a view through the arched doorways of the reconstructed 17th-century State House at Historic St. Mary’s City, built near its original site. Passing through these doorways leads to a courtroom—emblematic of the spaces where accused women, and sometimes those who harmed them, faced “justice”. Light draws the eye beyond the final doorway to the coastline, acknowledging two women killed aboard ships bound for Maryland after being accused of witchcraft during their journey. My superimposed face bears witness to these women and is an embodied recognition that women today are still marginalized and disciplined for speaking, leading, or living beyond imposed boundaries.
Honoring women accused of witchcraft in Maryland
This series of artworks honors women accused of witchcraft in colonial Maryland and how their stories resonate in the lived experiences of women today.
When we think of witchcraft accusations in the United States, our minds easily turn to the events in Salem in 1692–in which over 200 people were accused of witchcraft, 20 of whom were killed and at least 5 others died in prison. But, people have been persecuted for witchcraft throughout America’s history–including here in Maryland.
In 1635, the Maryland Assembly adopted England’s Witchcraft Act, making its practice punishable by death. Below are artworks dedicated to women accused of witchcraft in colonial Maryland. This is an ongoing work and the list is likely incomplete.
In 2025, Maryland Delegate Heather Bagnall (D. Anne Arundel) introduced HJ002: Criminal Law -Witchcraft - Exoneration, which seeks to exonerate several of the colonial-era accused. The legislation has received pushback since its introduction, with critics naming the legislation as a misuse of government time and resources in the midst of a state a budget deficit.
Why does this legislation matter and why now?
It matters because the dispositions underlying colonial witchcraft accusations resonate with the lived experience of women today.
Beginning in 1654 with Mary Lee, a woman murdered aboard the ship carrying her to Maryland, blamed and named a witch for dangerous weather along the voyage. Mary was traveling alone, she would have had valuable belongings with her. Mary's story echoes the advice every contemporary woman has heard since her young adulthood: "Never travel alone. Make sure someone knows where you are going. Never show that you are carrying something of value, hide your purse and your jewelry when traveling". It has been 372 years since Mary Lee was killed aboard the Charity of London, and women can still recognize themselves in her story.
It matters because witchcraft accusations are emblematic of historic and contemporary scapegoating of the marginalized.
Though I am approaching this work through a feminist lens, focused on how the stories of these women resonate with the lived experience of women today, it should not go unacknowledged that underpinning witchcraft accusations is the age-old practice of scapegoating the vulnerable. Across cultures and throughout time we have seen the unimaginable harm scapegoating causes; from the horrors of the Holocaust to contemporary scapegoating of immigrants and trans individuals we are seeing unfold in the United States today.
It matters because it matters when a contemporary government can recognize and apologize for its past injustices.
Acknowledgement is a powerful step in learning from those injustices so we do not perpetuate those injustices in the future. Such an acknowledgement can serve as a powerful mirror; if we can see today's injustices reflected back to us by remembering the stories of the past, we have the opportunity to change course and move towards a more just future.
Witchcraft accusations are levied against women to this day. In 2024, then presidential candidate Kamala Harris was accused of using witchcraft to gain advantage in a political debate. Episcopal Bishop Marian Budde was accused of witchcraft after her now-famous homily at the 2024 National Day of Prayer in which she encouraged the newly inaugurated Donald Trump to show mercy to the marginalized.
Though the British Witchcraft Act was repealed in 1735, and thereby Maryland's enforcement of it, it is worth noting that Maryland women accused of other crimes or harmed by violent acts have been called witches in news reports, custody cases, school disciplinary actions, workplace disputes, etc. up through the 21st century.
Symbolically and materially, witchcraft accusations are not a relic of the past. Engaging with the historic realities of witchcraft accusations can be a powerful and, I would argue, necessary step in examining the present-day lived experiences of women in Maryland, the United States, and the world.
Delegate Bagnall's legislation moves on. There is currently no marker or monument to women accused of witchcraft in colonial Maryland; for all the reasons above, I believe there should be. So, until those formal acknowledgements exist, I have turned to my artistic practice to honor these women in my own way. I am researching and writing. I am visiting sites throughout the state that are tied to their stories. I am engaging in ceremony and prayer for their experience. As is my practice, I am documenting this ceremonialist work and expressing it through digital collage.
Below you will find the results of this ongoing work.
Below are artworks and artist statements for works in this series.
Each digital collage is crafted from photographs taken during sites of memory visits and/or ceremonialist works performed in honor of the women accused of witchcraft in Maryland. I use the same self-portrait superimposed over each image as a way of symbolically bearing witness to their stories and acknowledging the ways in which each woman's story resonates with contemporary issues faced by women in the contemporary world.
Content awareness: Descriptions and artist statements include discussions of sexual assault, pregnancy loss, murder, violence against women and other topics that some audiences may find challenging.