Search results | Digital Grinnell

Title: Am I Not a Man and a Brother?
Description: In this block, the artist has chosen to highlight a commonly used symbol of the abolitionist movement; a slave kneeling with chained wrists held up, begging for his freedom. Created by members of the Clapham Sect of the Church of England in 1787, the image was so popularly consumed, historians have referred to it as a “pièce de resistance” of the campaign. However, the image is controversial to some because of the subordinate and sanitized representation it gives of slavery. Rather than portraying a reality of enslavement, torture, oppression, and resistance, the image appealed to the abolitionist ideals of morality, virtue, and truth. With this block, the artists urges their audience to grapple with the impact that historically sanitized images of slavery can cause, especially on younger generations. By portraying the slave as begging his oppressors for his freedom and humility, the image has replicated the very hierarchy it is trying to combat. Nonetheless, the image is contextualized with historical importance from the role it played in the abolitionist movement. By re-assessing images of abolition and rebellion, the artist urges people to contemplate popular controversies about the glorification of confederate monuments and the legacy of slavery in shaping American national identity.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25494

Title: Captured
Description: This block aims to capture the ironic nature of the institution of slavery. This block includes an image of slaves on a plantation, framed by various found objects. The artist has incorporated a crucifix into the design, signifying the use of christianity as a means justify the enslavement of bodies. The image conjures a feeling of darkened antiquity and tarnish, further accentuated by rusty keys and other metal objects which surround the photograph, alluding to how the people in the image were utilized for the purpose of profit and industry with no attention paid to their human needs. When we consider visualizing freedom we must consider the nexus of capital and material and its effects on the enslaved body, a topic unfortunately still relevant in capitalist America today.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25485

Title: Chicago and North Western Train Wreck, April 23, 1908, De Witt, Iowa, Silver Creek
Description: View of the wrecked train. On April 23, 1908, southwest of DeWitt, Iowa, at Silver Creek, flooding weakened a bridge and gave way to stock train 132 where an engine and 17 cars of cattle fell into the water. Three crewmen perished in the wreck.
Date Created: 1908
PID: grinnell:16950

Title: Chinese house with laundry
Description: This photograph shows a one-story wooden slat house with laundry strung up outside.
Date Created: 1924
PID: grinnell:17389

Title: Chinese man carrying blankets
Description: Photograph of a Chinese man on a dirt road carrying blankets in a pouch on his back.
Date Created: 1924
PID: grinnell:17397

Title: Collision
Description: This block is a visualization of the clash between the cosmic forces of nature and the institutions of humankind. This encounter was especially apparent during the revolution in Haiti; the very concept of slavery and the violence that grew from it defies nature in every way. The plantation economy which ran off the energy of slaves turned a lush tropical landscape into flat planes of torture. Confrontation between armed forces over these plantations wreaked havoc on the earth and the destroyed the natural landscape. In this block an image of a classical Greco-Roman building, representing the institutions of a “more civilized” people, collides with the cosmic forces of earth and nature. These forces are commonly called upon in Haitian Vodou ceremonies, making this collision not just one between man and nature but also between ideologies and philosophies.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25492