Search results | Digital Grinnell

Title: The Man, The Machine
Description: This block depicts the transformation of the cotton and slave industries after the invention of the cotton gin. It aims to capture small sober reminders that enslaved peoples were commodities in the eyes of the United States, their only intended purpose to advance capital and power within the nation. When considering how to visualize freedom we must also consider how to re-imagine profit. Representing the intersection between bodies and profit, this block asks observers a simple question: Is the slave nothing more than an outdated cotton gin?
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25491

Title: The Storm
Description: The center image of this block, placed on the very bottom of the mold so as to appear farthest from the viewer, depicts the capital city of Port-au-Prince after the magnitude 3.1 hurricane which devastated the island in 2010. In this piece, the city is divided by a trail of nails; the buildings on the left side of the nails had received government funding for repair and the buildings on the right did not. The national poverty that necessitated this divide is one of the many ailments that plague formerly colonized nations; either you submit to imperial rule, or suffer economic consequences so often brushed aside as “third world problems.” In popular images of Port-au-Prince the right side of this picture is often cut out, eliminating the catastrophe from contemporary memory and thereby erasing the physical and emotional trauma caused by the disaster. The left side of this block depicts an ideal Haiti. A land warmed and nurtured by bright sunshine, this Haiti is known for its brightly colored houses and shell-speckled beaches, represented here with colorful sequins, marbles, and sea glass. The set of keys, paired with reflective shapes evocative of windows, call to mind a welcoming community where every family has a home. The right side of the block, however, represents the true Haiti. Economic class seems fixed enough to be nailed down. The black and amber stones represent Haiti’s crippling dependance on oil and external revenue, and the true Haiti is seen here still entangled in the net of poverty and colonialism. While this Haiti may seem grim, it is comprised of tools which can be used to build a brighter future. Buttons, screws, nails, and netting may look like detritus to some, but can transform into implements with which to achieve a more idyllic Haiti.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25514

Title: The World
Description: This piece represents an abstract approach to visualizing freedom. The only recognizable forms in this piece are two cotton plants, surrounded by abstract organic forms reminiscent of plant life. At the center of this piece the designs converge to create a shape evocative of a skull or head; yet each viewer might have a different reaction to the organization of forms and shapes. What do you see?
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25501

Title: Two Chinese people on a country road
Description: Photograph of a Chinese man and woman resting next to a dirt road.
Date Created: 1924
PID: grinnell:17392

Title: Two men in hats in China
Description: Photograph of two men on a dirt road in China.
Date Created: 1924
PID: grinnell:18744

Title: Veneer
Description: At the center of this block is a photograph of Haitian slaves harvesting sugar cane before the revolution. Look closely at the image and focus on the people’s faces. How is this photograph different from other images of plantation slavery? Look closer and you may realize that the photograph is placed on top of another image, covering everything but the outer edges. The pictures we see and the stories we tell may not reveal the entire truth, and some narratives of the past mask another’s reality. Perhaps history should not be viewed as a timeline, with one image placed next to another, but should look more like an overused scrapbook; you must peel one image away to reveal another.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25497

Title: Windows
Description: This block depicts four distinct scenes, yet they are part of the same world. Placid scenes of rural and urban Iowa, set side by side alongside depictions of white Iowans in the process of buying and selling African people. This goal of this block is to challenge the illusion of innocence that has colored our reality of slave auctions and all other dehumanizing and violent aspects of the slave trade. The juxtaposed images of Iowan rural life and images of the Iowan slave trade evokes tension and conflict under an apparent calm. In what ways are we complicit in this calm, and in what ways can we challenge it?
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25496

Title: Women of the Revolution
Description: The story of the Haitian Revolution is steered by powerful characters such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, Henri Christophe, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, military commanders and monarchs who facilitated the Haitian independence movement during the French Revolution. However, these men were not the only people involved in the dramatic uprising. Haitian women, too, played a large role in the rebellion, and this block honors the female freedom fighters who often go unnoticed in modern tellings of the story. In the lower center of the block the artist has placed a Haitian ten gourd banknote, featuring sergeant and lieutenant Sanité Bélair who fought bravely under the command of Toussaint LOuverture. To her left is a depiction of Marie-Jeanne Lamartiniére, a Haitian soldier who fought in male uniform and is said to have greatly boosted the spirits of her male counterparts with her invigorating bravery. On the right hand side of the block we see an image of Cécile Fatiman, a mambo (Vodou priestess) said to have participated in the Vodou ritual at Bwa Kayiman, a ceremony during which the first slave insurrection was planned. Although these women, and others like them, have not made it into many history books, this block honors the sacrifices they made for the freedom of their people and country.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25518

Title: Wooden cart with ox in China
Description: Photograph of a large wooden cart pulled by an ox.
Date Created: 1924
PID: grinnell:17404

Title: “Fear God, Tell the Truth, and Make Money”
Description: “Fear God, tell the truth and make money” was the motto of The Iowa Bystander, a newspaper established by ten black businessmen in Des Moines, Iowa in 1894. The Iowa Bystander targeted a black audience and employed black writers, unlike most Iowa newspapers at the time who would not hire black journalists. The Bystander outspokenly criticized American society, taking on several different issues such as the Ku Klux Klan, racist advertising practices, and unequal treatment of blacks in the American armed forces. Most black newspapers in the United States at this time had an average lifespan of about nine years, but the Bystander lasted more than eighty years due to its strong leadership under publishers like John Lay Thompson and J.B. Morris, making it one of the most successful black newspapers in the country. This block incorporates different clippings from the Iowa Bystander. The clippings include several ads for employment opportunities, an advertisement for a colored cafe, and an article about the Iowa State Federation Colored Women’s Club. The paper paid tribute to various women in the ranks of the club, and included beautiful portraits of many of the women involved. Through their journalism, the Bystander was able to empower and connect blacks across America. Newspapers like the Bystander played a critical role in uniting black communities and creating a space for them in white America.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25509