Jennifer Davis Carey:

Redemption

ABOUT THIS EXHIBITION

October 7 through November 7, 2021

Public reception: Friday, October 8, 2021, 6:00 to 9:00 PM

Seated at the intersection of art, craft, and history, Redemption is a series of portraits in enamel that re-vision and re-interpret daguerreotypes of people held in bondage on agricultural plantations in Columbia, South Carolina. The original daguerreotypes reclaimed in this exhibition were commissioned in 1850 by Louis Agassiz, a professor at Harvard. As part of his studies to prove that Blacks were a separate and inferior creation, Agassiz contracted with Joseph T. Zealy to create daguerreotypes of ‘African types’, either people born on the continent or their American born offspring. The images of the enslaved people, Fassena, Jack, Drana, Renty, and Delia posed unclad and as biological specimens are shocking. They bear witness to the pain, exploitation, and tragedy that visited these subjects as an accompaniment to America’s Original Sin.

Since their discovery in 1976 at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, the daguerreotypes have been the subject of controversy—raising questions about ‘race science’, ownership, consent, and the role of the academy in creating or dismantling pernicious stereotypes. In 2019, descendants of Renty Taylor, one of the enslaved, sued Harvard for damages and ownership of the images. Harvard prevailed and did not return the images but did release them to the public domain.

The altered images in this exhibit humanize the subjects by clothing them and inviting the viewer to consider their faces, attire, and demeanor, and to redefine their own relationship to Renty, Delia, Jack, Drana, and Fassena, and to this chapter in our shared history.

The historical record offers little detail about the photographic subjects. From notes accompanying the images and from subsequent investigation by scholars, we know some information, posted alongside these artworks. Explore further with links to the US Library of Congress audio collection, Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories. While not the voices of those whose images appear in this exhibit, the recordings do capture the experience of those who lived in bondage.

From the artist: Special thanks to Peter Grigg and Meaghan Hardie-Lavoie for their help with Photoshop, Thad Kaliszewski (Thad the Vagabond) for technology support, and Sean Leary of CC Lowell for framing.

ArtsWorcester exhibitions are sustained in part by the generous support of the C. Jean and Myles McDonough Charitable Foundation.

VISIT OUR GALLERIES

During exhibitions, ArtsWorcester's gallery hours are Thursdays through Sundays, 12:00 to 5:00 PM. Our galleries are always free and open to the public.

ArtsWorcester's main galleries are located at 44 Portland Street in downtown Worcester.

Masks are required for all visitors.

Parking is available at the Worcester Public Library (McGrath) Lot, Federal Plaza Garage, Worcester Common Garage, and Pearl-Elm Garage. Metered street parking is also available.

EXPLORE THE EXHIBITION

Drana 3

vitreous enamel on steel, 11" x 8.5" x .05", 2021, NFS

Drana was the daughter of Jack. Very little is known about this woman, and she does not appear in the probate records that settled the Benjamin F. Taylor estate in 1852. This suggests that previously she was either sold, died, or ran.

Listen for more

Listen to Laura Smalley speak on her memories of the ways that the enslaved were physically punished. Audio length: 9:08.

“Just tied her hands this way, you know, around the peach orchard tree. I remember that just as well, look like to me I can. And around the tree and whupped her. Well, she couldn't do nothing, but just kick her ???. Just kick her feet.”

Faulk, John Henry, Unidentified Female Interviewer, and Laura Smalley. Interview with Laura Smalley, Hempstead, Texas, part 2 of 5. Hempstead, Texas, 1941. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1941016_afs05496b/.

Drana 4

vitreous enamel on steel, 14" x 11" x .05", 2021, NFS

Fassena 2

vitreous enamel on steel, 10" x 8" x .05", 2021, NFS

Fassena is listed in the slave register of Colonel Wade Hampton as a carpenter, and was passed on as property to Hampton’s son, Wade Hampton II. According to plantation notes he was of the Mandingo (Mandinka, an ethnic group of Mali, Guinea, Gambia, and the Ivory Coast) people. Documents suggest that Fassena is 72 years of age in 1865 and then held by C. Frank Hampton of the next generation in the Hampton line. In 1865, Woodlands, the property on which Fassena was enslaved, fell to Sherman’s forces, and was burned to the ground.

Listen for more

Listen to Uncle Bob Ledbetter share some of the songs he sang while working in the fields and the story of how he learned to read and write. Audio length: 11:09.

♪♪“My Sam told me to pick a little cotton. My boy says don't, the seeds all rotten. Get out of the way, old Dan Tucker, Come too late to get your supper.”♪♪

Lomax, John A, Ruby T Lomax, and Bob Ledbetter. Interview with Uncle Bob Ledbetter, Oil City, Louisiana. Oil City, Louisiana, 1940. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1940003_afs03992a/.

Fassena 1

vitreous enamel on steel, 14" x 11" x .05", 2021, NFS

Jack 2

vitreous enamel on copper, 14" x 11" x .05", 2021, NFS

Jack was Drana’s father and is listed in records as a driver, an enslaved person who supervised the work of field hands. He appears in records of the First Baptist Church of Columbia, South Carolina. Notes accompanying the photograph list him as “Guinea” though the plantation register indicates that he is Mandingo (Mandinka, an ethnic group of Mali, Guinea, Gambia, and the Ivory Coast). His last record is in probate documents from 1852.

Listen for more

Listen to Uncle Billy McCrea talk about his memories from being enslaved and the day that his master told him and his mother that they were going to be freed. Audio length: 7:39.

“I say, "Mama, where they, where they going?" Said, "They all going home now." And old Col. M. that was our master, he was in there, and he say, "Well, Harriet, all of you niggas is all free now. Yankees all going home.”

Lomax, John A, Ruby T Lomax, and Billy McCrea. Interview with Uncle Billy McCrea, Jasper, Texas, part 2 of 2. Jasper, Texas, 1940. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1940003_afs03975a/.

Jack 2

vitreous enamel on steel, 10" x 8" x .05", 2021, NFS

Renty 2

vitreous enamel on steel, 10" x 8" x .05", 2021, NFS

Renty was the father of Delia. According to documents belonging to the First Baptist Church of Columbia, South Carolina, he was baptized in 1838. Additional records indicate that he was married with a wife named Eady and additional children, Molly, Caesar, July, and Hector all of whom are largely absent from the historical record likely due to death, sale, or escape. Notes attached to the daguerreotype indicate that Renty was born in the Congo.

Listen for more

Listen to Fountain Hughes speak on economic life lessons, his memories of being enslaved, and the hardships he and others faced with “freedom.” Audio length: 29:12.

“We had what you call, worse than dogs has got it now. Dogs has got it now better than we had it when we come along. I know, I remember one night, I was out after I, I was free, and I didn't have nowhere to go. I didn't have nowhere to sleep. I didn't know what to do.”

Norwood, Hermond, and Fountain Hughes. Interview with Fountain Hughes, Baltimore, Maryland. Baltimore, Maryland, November, 6, 1949. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1950037_afs09990a/.

Renty 3

vitreous enamel on copper, 10" x 8" x .05", 2021, $250 (SOLD)

Renty 1

vitreous enamel on steel, 10" x 8" x .05", 2021, NFS

Delia 3

vitreous enamel on steel, 10" x 8" x .05", 2021, NFS

Delia was the daughter of Renty and appears in the 1834 slave register of Thomas Taylor, patriarch, and father of Benjamin Taylor who also held her in bondage. She is about twenty years old at the time of the Zealy image. Notes in the 1852 Taylor slave register indicate that she worked at the forge, likely the blacksmith works that serviced the Grub Hill Plantation.

Listen for more

Listen to Harriet Smith talk about her experience with the church while enslaved, as well as her memories of watching soldiers during the Civil War. Audio length: 8:47.

“I went to Mountain City to the white folks' church many a time. You see the white folks would have church in the morning, then they'd let the colored people have church at their church in the evening.”

Faulk, John Henry, and Harriet Smith. Interview with Aunt Harriet Smith, Hempstead, Texas, part 1 of 4. Hempstead, Texas, 1941. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1941016_afs05499a/.

Delia 4

vitreous enamel on steel, 14" x 11" x .05", 2021, NFS

According to the Professor

vintage wooden writing box with enclosed images, 4" x 12" x 8", 2021, NFS

The original daguerreotypes are a shock to the senses, the mind, and the heart. Copies of the images are held in this box, along with excerpts of Louis Agassiz's writing to contextualize both the professor's project and the act of resistance against that original project and the attitudes that informed it that this exhibit represents.