This is the first program in the On Time: Giving Form to the Fleeting exhibition lecture series. 

This conversation will explore Redeat Wondemu’s year-long study of Hillwood’s gardens and how photographs act as vessels of preservation. In dialogue with curator Wilfried Zeisler and gallerist Adrian Ferguson, Wondemu reflects on analog and historical processes, film, tintype, and early printing methods, and how they shape our understanding of beauty, fragility, and time. Together, they examine the tension between what an image can hold and what inevitably changes in nature, as seen in the seasonal works featured in the exhibition.

HYBRID PROGRAM 

This lecture will be presented in the theater in the Ellen MacNeille Charles Visitor Center and will be livestreamed via Zoom. Visitors can submit questions for the speaker from any location. 

IN-PERSON TIMELINE

5:30–6:30 p.m. | Explore Hillwood

• Enjoy Hillwood’s mansion, gardens,  greenhouse, and exhibition, On Time: Giving Form to the Fleeting, on view in the dacha
• Find the perfect memento from your visit at the museum shop.

6:30–7:30 p.m. | Lecture 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Redeat Wondemu is a Washington, D.C.–based lens-based artist whose work explores authentic beauty, material storytelling, and the human desire to preserve what is fleeting. During her year-long fellowship at Hillwood, Wondemu photographed the gardens across the seasons as part of her ongoing Flower Studies series, examining the stories photographs carry and the impulse to archive and immortalize living plants that are destined to wither and disappear.

Her practice centers on the material histories embedded in photographic processes. Through film, tintype, and historical printing methods, she investigates how photographs operate as vessels of preservation, stabilizing and recording subjects that are inherently fragile and impermanent. 

The works created during her fellowship reflect this exploration, each capturing a distinct season and rendered through analog or historical techniques that ground her approach. Wondemu’s images invite viewers to consider both the enduring beauty of the garden and the layered ways we attempt to hold onto the natural world.

Born in Arlington, VA and raised in Fairfax County, VA, Adrian Ferguson is the owner of Art of Noize, an art gallery and event venue located in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Adrian has been creating and selling art since the age of 7. His mother noticed his skills and would bring him to local markets and craft fairs on weekends to help sell the family’s art. Adrian is a product of Fairfax County Public Schools and a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. It was relatively early in his career when he realized what he didn’t want to do for the rest his adult life. Juggling a full-time job, a young family and a dream could be an Olympic sport. With late nights, working during his lunch breaks and in between toddler nap times, Art of Noize came into fruition. 

Adrian has been listed on Artsy as one of the top black gallery owners to support across the United States, and featured on CNN as one of the black-owned galleries who are redefining spaces in Washington, D.C. Voyage Baltimore featured Adrian in their “Community Highlights” where Art Of Noize was named a hidden gem. 

Adrian currently resides in Northern VA with his wife and son. Outside of Art of Noize, he enjoys live  music, collecting vinyl records, visiting museums and galleries, and traveling.

Dr. Wilfried Zeisler is Hillwood’s deputy director and chief curator. He is a graduate of Sorbonne University and the Ecole du Louvre, Paris. Wilfried has written extensively on French and Russian decorative arts, including several articles and contributions to books. Wilfried’s dissertation, L’Objet d’art et de luxe français en Russie (1881-1917) [French Objets d’art and Luxury Goods in Russia], was published in Paris in 2014. 

Wilfried co-authored Konstantin Makovsky: The Tsar's Painter in America and Paris  (2015), and The Houses and Collections of Marjorie Merriweather Post – The Joy of It (2022). He is the author of Fabergé Rediscovered, (2018), Les Youssoupoff – Un siècle de collections françaises (2023), and The Belle Epoque Life in Paris -- Olga Paley and Paul of Russia (2018 and 2025 for the English version).

Since 2009, Wilfried has participated in and curated exhibitions in Paris, Monaco, and Washington DC. At Hillwood, his most recent exhibitions include Fabergé Rediscovered (2018), Bouke de Vries: War and Pieces (2019), Natural Beauties: Exquisite Works of Minerals and Gems (2020), The Porcelain Flowers of Vladimir Kanevsky (2021), Determined Women: Collectors, Artists, and Designers at Hillwood (2023), Glass: Art. Beauty. Design. (2023), and Fragile Beauty: Art of the Ocean (2024). He is the co-curator of Hillwood's 2025 exhibition From Exile to Avant-Garde: The Life of Princess Natalie Paley.

Images are courtesy of the speakers.