Search results | Digital Grinnell

Title: Generations
Description: This block depicts two parallel scenes: the photograph on the right captures a class of school children, and the photo on the left shows a group of people at some celebration. The figures in the photo on the left are wearing formal attire even as some kneel in the grass in the foreground. Is this really a celebration? If so, what are they celebrating? Although it is difficult to ascertain who these people are and why their photographs were being taken, the two photographs call to mind the nonstop progression of generational change. The polka-dots, stars, and diamond-shaped flower petals appear to rotate around the two photographs in a circular motion, creating the sensation of a whirlpool in constant revolution. In what ways do generational shifts impact how we visualize freedom today?
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25484

Title: Growing Up
Description: In this block, the artists have chosen to call attention to the experiences of children during the Haitian Revolution. Two of of Toussaint L'Ouverture’s sons, named Isaac and Saint-Jean, are featured prominently in this piece. Growing up with a famous and powerful father, these children enjoyed many more luxuries than most Haitian children, for the two boys were fortunate enough to be sent to France in 1797 to receive education in foreign languages and the arts. However, even relocation to Europe did not save the boys from meeting the same ill fate which met the other nine of L’Ouverture’s children, many of whom died before their father. Above the portraits of the L’Ouverture sons, the artists have included a depiction of children harvesting sugar cane in a pre-revolution Haiti. These children were exploited under the relentless control of plantation owners, seen here in suit jackets and straw hats, who robbed children of their childhood, education, families, and often their lives.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25510

Title: In Honor of Mary Touvestre
Description: This block honors Mary Touvestre, a freed slave who risked her life to protect the Union army from a disastrous naval attack. This block includes an image of the plans for the Confederate ship The Merrimack, plans that were once stolen by Mary Touvestre, a housekeeper for a Confederate engineer in Norfolk. After hearing the engineer speak about the importance of the ship, Touvestre recognized the danger it imposed upon the Union’s naval forces who were blockading Norfolk’s supplies from Europe, imploring her to steal the plans for the ship and embark on a 195 mile trip through enemy lines to inform the Department of the Navy in Washington of the impending danger. In this block, the danger posed by the ship is highlighted by nails embedded around the head of the warship. The tangling string that weaves through the block depicts the length of the journey, and the risk shouldered by a black woman traveling on foot through Confederate lands. Touvestre report urged officials to speed up plans for constructing an ironclad ship for the Union army, saving them from an ugly attack for which they would not have been prepared. If Touvestre had never provided the intelligence, the USS Merrimac would have been given several more unchallenged weeks to quite possibly disrupt the Union’s blockade of Norfolk. The purpose of this block is to celebrate and honor the countless slaves and freed blacks living within Confederate regions who risked their lives to serve the Union army. In this piece, we also recognize the wider sacrifices made by black people to support a country that has continued to deny them humanity and safety.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25508

Title: In Memory of Hannibal Kershaw
Description: In this block the artists decided to honor Hannibal Kershaw and recognize the legacy he left on Grinnell during his time here as a student. Hannibal Kershaw was the first black student to graduate from Grinnell College in the early 19th century. The Iowa College Newsletter called Kershaw “an earnest, conscientious student, a fluent society speaker, and a man whom all respected for his high moral and religious character.” After graduating from Grinnell, he became a member of the South Carolina legislature and was also a teacher and a minister. Although Kershaw passed away only 4 years after leaving Grinnell, his memory is honored in the East Campus hall named for him, and now also in this piece of art. In this block, the artists have included a photograph of Kershaw along with the commemorative sign on Kershaw Hall, as well as keys and screws to symbolize not only the dorm, but also Kershaw’s commitment to building respectful race relations at the college and the symbolic doors he opened as the first black graduate of Grinnell. The artists also included a bird in flight, meant to remind viewers that while loved ones may be gone, their legacy will be remembered forever. Lastly, a piece of twine placed between these images reminds us of how connected the struggles of people of color are all over the world. Although Kershaw never set foot in Haiti, he certainly knew the pain and legacy of slavery and colonization, and felt the burn of racism even in Grinnell.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25515

Title: Invitation
Description: This block emerged from an invitation to participate in a campus-wide reflection on race, revolution, and artist’s place in our troubled social context. The ominous and powerful insect, the central image in this piece, is based on Alejo Carpentier's magical realist novel on the Haitian revolution, The Kingdom of this World. Is the insect colonialism? The revolution? It confronts the viewer with questions: Why don’t we know our own history, and why are we so afraid to teach it? In the same way that the insect confronts the viewer in this piece, we must confront our history and the ways in which it impacts our lives today. Although the insect hovers over us, threatening to destroy our memories, histories, and futures, we continue to coexist with it, allowing it to grow and respond to our changing conditions. The layering, movement, and sedimentation of the composition is meant to evoke the oceans, currents, and the troubling depths of race as “natural” yet at the same time constructed, still powerful and unsettling. It is a sea constantly troubled, whether we are aware or not. This block, and this installation as a whole, acts as an invitation to calmly evaluate ourselves in relation to our histories and education, without drowning in the waves.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25500

Title: John Brown’s Body
Description: John Brown is well-known for his abolitionist exploits throughout the antebellum United States. From leading armed groups in the Bleeding Kansas crisis to his near-successful raid on Harpers Ferry in Virginia, Brown made clear his staunch beliefs that slavery must be abolished and that violent insurrection was the only way to accomplish that goal. Eventually, these beliefs resulted in his downfall, as he was captured at Harpers Ferry by a United States Army regiment and later executed. What’s less commonly known about John Brown is his connection to Grinnell. While helping escaped slaves move along the Underground Railroad Brown slept at the home of J.B. Grinnell, founder of the town and supporter of the College. A photograph of this house is depicted in the lower right corner of this block, with an arrow pointing to the room where Brown stayed during his visit. Also included are two newspaper clippings from the Des Moines Register documenting Brown’s time in Iowa, including the story of a tense standoff in Iowa City shortly after he left Grinnell. At the center of the block is a portrait of J.B. Grinnell himself, found in the Grinnell College Archives. The words “John Brown’s Body” near the right edge of the block are a reference to the eponymous marching song sung by the Union Army to commemorate Brown’s sacrifice, the melody of which would go on to be reused in the now well-known Battle Hymn of the Republic. Like those who rebelled in Haiti, Brown believed that grassroots revolution could be an effective weapon against the institution of slavery and worked to advance equality for people of African descent.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25505

Title: Kochon Kréyol
Description: At the center of this block, a cut-out photograph of a domestic pig is superimposed over a woodcut print showing pigs in a farmhouse pen, framed by the words “Kochon Kréyol” and “Zami Mwen” which mean “creole pig” and “good friend” in Creole. The pig imagery is surrounded by leaves, buttons, sequins, and red flower petals. The petals, cut into droplets, resemble drops of blood and call to mind the animal sacrifice often performed in Haitian Vodou ritual. Goats, pigs, chickens, and bulls are among the animals commonly sacrificed in the ritual, the role of which is to emphasize the importance of blood and flesh, the sources of life-force and vigor in Vodou tradition. Although the domesticated pig is commonly slaughtered either for ritual or food, the woodcut honors the pig’s sacrifices by addressing it as a good friend in the Haitian language, exemplifying the creole appreciation for all living beings.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25517

Title: La Sirene
Description: The centerpiece of this block is a formerly minted Haitian coin. The coin features a profile view of La Sirene, a mami wata (mermaid) and a Loa of wealth. The complex mythology of Haitian Vodou was centered around an extensive pantheon of deities called Loa, each representing a unique natural force or human attribute. La Sirene is married to Agwe, Loa of the sea, and is known to embody materialism and vanity. The objects which surround La Sirene were chosen for their association with the sea; the translucent blue and white pebbles remind us of crashing ocean waves, and the small floating moon above the coin alludes to the power La Sirene holds over the oceans and tides. The torn fishnet placed over the coin is a reference to a life spent in the seas, yet it also represents bondage, pillage, and liberation, reminding us of the terrible violence and awesome courage that led to the birth of the nation of Haiti. The artists also included La Sirene veve, a geometric religious symbol drawn on the floor of a sacred space with corn meal, wheat flour, soil, or chalk. These objects and drawings, collected and arranged by the artists, unite together to create a piece which honors the deity and her worship while also recognizing the struggle that enabled the minting of a uniquely Haitian currency, presented here almost like a trophy raised high at the end of a hard-fought battle.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25512

Title: Loving v. Virginia
Description: In 1967, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously voted to dismantle all state laws prohibiting intermarriage, overriding legal restrictions based on race written in 1883. In this block, created by studio assistant Leina’ala Voss, the first page of the Loving v. Virginia court transcript serves as a partial background on which two rings and a set of keys have been arranged; these objects symbolize the bond of marriage and evoke the feeling of a shared home. To the left of the court transcript the artist has placed a net, surrounded by metal nails, buttons, and fragments of colored flowers. Beneath the netting the words “race mixing is communism” appear as a headline above an image of a white protester, his face concealed behind dark sunglasses. This image is juxtaposed against a photograph which shows laughing children and their parents, innocent and unbothered by the chaos which surrounds them. By placing symbolic objects representative of marriage and domesticity alongside a supreme court document and Loving v. Virginia protest imagery, this block depicts how love itself has become a highly politicized issue defenseless against the noxious gass of racism and hatred. This block also reminds the viewer that even today we must not take our rings and keys, and the people we love, for granted; for there once was a time when even the love we feel for our family was unlawful in the eyes of our constitution.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25516

Title: Portrait
Description: This piece aims to honor the service of black and Haitian military men. When considering the Haitian Revolution we often tell the stories of men such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, one of too few symbols of black military power. This block places a black military leader at the center of attention, and also aims to connect his story with slavery in Haiti, America, and beyond. In this block, the image of the Haitian militia man appears beside an illustration of a cotton plant. Although slavery in Haiti was fueled by sugarcane, not cotton, an image of a cotton plant is placed here to remind the viewer that slavery is and shall remain a hallmark of American history, and issues of injustice in the military still occur today. When we consider the history of the transatlantic slave trade, we do not often think of its impact on how black people are treated in the military. Erased from history and celebration, black bodies were catalogued as equipment much like weapons and protective wear. While great progress has been made since the abolition of slavery and the integration of the military, we still have a long way to go in our quest for equal treatment of people of color as well as gay and transgender people in the military.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25490