Afro-Atlantic Histories Exhibition
A visit to the Washington DC National Gallery of Art's latest exhibition; the unpacking of the history of African and Black populations from 17th-century slavery to modern-day.
Entrance to Afro-Atlantic Histories Exhibit
The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC's latest exhibition Afro-Atlantic Histories addresses the brutal reality that was the forced movement of Africans across the Atlantic. This long-overdue exhibition takes a deep dive into a topic that is rarely addressed through the lens of art history. The collection consists of over 130 works varying in painting, sculpture, photographs, and time-based media by artists from Africa, Europe, the Americas, and the Caribbean to present the historical experiences and cultural formations of Black and African people since the 17th century. The exhibit originated and has been developing since 2018 by the Instituto Tomie Ohtake in Brazil.
The extremely powerful, disheartening, and thoughtful exhibition was constructed to be experienced in a series of themes explored in each room. The themes are Maps and Margins followed by Enslavement and Emancipation, Everyday Lives, Rites and Rhythms, Portraits, and Resistance and Activism. Each room unpacks intense historical material juxtaposed with works of art to illustrate the horrific realities and experiences. This show is extremely unique for the National Gallery because they rarely utilize dense wall texts in their exhibitions, this inclusion of additional information is what makes this exhibit all the more worthwhile. The wall text produces an exhibition that is more than just a collection of art, it allows the viewer to experience a visual history as well as an in-depth written one to ensure that all will leave with an intense understanding of the reality of what happened to African and Black populations.
When one first enters the exhibit you are immediately confronted with a stainless steel map with a mirrored finish where you can see your own reflection in the work allowing you to be part of the exhibit. This piece is A Place to Call Home (African American Reflection) by the American artist Hank Willis Thomas. Initially, the map might appear as North and South America but upon close inspection, it is North America attached to Africa. This piece speaks volumes about the complicated identity most African Americas face in regard to not feeling at home in America or Africa, the artist explains “I still have not been able to reconcile what it means to look at my own reflection”. One country is where their ancestry has been stolen from and the other is where that ancestry was forced into slavery and still today faces discrimination and racism.
A Place to Call Home (African American Reflection) by Hank Willis Thomas
The following room addresses Enslavement and Emancipation, where the wall texts immediately explain that the violence of slavery was not one-sided as it is necessary to acknowledge the efforts of slaves in retaliation. Often glossed over in history books Africans resisted their kidnappings, revolted onboard slave ships, organized uprisings on plantations, ran away when possible, and even committed suicide to escape. It is additionally important to note that these efforts were not solely made possible by the help of non-Black people but were initiated by the powerful Black men and women and free Black populations. One majorly striking piece in this room is a rendition of a historical photograph of an ex-slave named Gordon showing to the camera the scars on his back, the original image was also included next to the sculpture. The photograph was taken in 1863 at a Union camp in Louisianna, where Gordan found refuge after escaping the nearby plantation where he was brutally abused and whipped, which resulted in the intense welts and scars on his back. The image was distributed via mail as a means to rally support and raise funds for abolitionist efforts and the Union. The sculpture made of vacuum-formed plastic titled Ex-Slave Gordon by Arthur Jafa was created in 2017 to give dimension and reality to the photograph. The original image was distributed without acknowledging the subject's name, where the sufferer has lost his identity and acts only as a symbol. In response to this, the artist has titled the work with Gordan's name and made it larger than life scale with raised wounds to make him virtually present and impossible to ignore.
Ex-Slave Gordon by Arthur Jafa, 2017
The Scourged Back c.1863
The next room highlights Everyday Lives, as the transition of Africans who had to create a new way of living during and after slavery. The works have been thematically organized to juxtapose different periods and places, some showing leisure, and labor in Black communities, others like works by Europeans that attempted to romanticize Black servitude. At first, this work appeared as a beautiful landscape painting by the Dutch artist Frans Post in 1660 titled Landscape with Anteater but becomes problematic upon close inspection. The painting depicts the Black people appearing to live in harmony with the Indigenous Brazilians and European colonizers, which gives the false impression that conflict and violence did not exist there. The next work I found to be particularly convincing is one by Jamaican artist Barrington Watson titled Conversation oil on canvas from 1981. Watson's work continually addressed the social and economic realities of life in Jamacia, this work stays true to that as the viewer is witnessing three women taking a break from their work. The different stance positions, colors of clothing, and facial expression allows each woman her own identity and individuality within the piece. The three are not in uniforms and are chatting on a break which could be a reference to their own autonomy within their working positions.
Landscape with Anteater by Frans Post 1660
The Conversation by Barrington Watson, 1981
Rites and Rhythms address the essential spiritual and musical practices passed down between generations of Black Atlantic populations. The works in this room highlight the importance of establishing a unique culture for Black communities to identify with and share between all those impacted by this forced migration. A vibrant piece by Uruguayan Pedro Figari titled Candombe that is full of color and action which perfectly encompasses this theme. Candombe is an Afro-Uruguayan style of music and dance that acted as a form of spiritual expression. The style of dance is a combination of rhythms from East and Equatorial Africa brought to the La Plata River by enslaved Africans. Candombe itself is a form of resistance as it was suppressed in Uruguay due to racism until the late 19th century, so here the artists’ portraits are a celebration of style with a parade of drummers and dancers marching along.
Candombe, by Pedro Figari, 1930
The most powerful room in the whole exhibition focuses on Portraiture. The wall text draws your attention to the fact that most portraits you might see in an art gallery are that of white people and more specifically white men in positions of power and prestige. This is why this room is taking the time to display a variety of portraits from the 17th century to the present, all are black individuals that are leaders, heroes, ordinary individuals, and even artists themselves. The lack of diversity recognition when it comes to portraiture and general art that is displayed in museums allows for the perpetuation of race, class, and gender discrimination. This concept of putting forth powerful and diverse portraits of individuals will force the unlearning process of associating whites as the only kind of person who is worthy of a portrait in a museum. Once you have entered this room the viewer is immediately confronted and over-shadowed by a larger-than-life portrait that is now the cover image for the exhibition, Ntozakhe II, (Parktown) 2016 by Zanele Muholi. The curator for the collection, Steven Nelson describes this piece as a reference to classical portraiture where you would have seen a white figure, but here we have a stunning black woman who is asserting their power and humanity without looking at the viewer. Nelson explains this concept to be “a reclamation of what I think of as an unapologetic blackness.”
Ntozakhe II, (Parktown) 2016 by Zanele Muholi
The final room addresses Resistance & Activism and Afro-Atlantic Modernism. Recognizing all the efforts of resistance, activism, and self-determination from the moment of arrival through generations of oppression. This room is full of powerful pieces with important meanings and history, but one specifically caught my attention. The Space to Forget by Titus Kaphar, oil on canvas, was made in 2014. This piece is directly confronts art history and its racist legacies, a major theme throughout the whole exhibit, but I felt no piece more directly attacks the subject than this work. The artist reimagines the unsettling photograph taken by Jorge Henrique Papf in Brazil 1899 of a white child riding on the back of her black nanny. Kaphar has reconstructed the image in a modern setting, removing the child which allows the focus to be completely on the identity and specialty of the black women from the original image. With the addition of the women holding a duster, the piece is drawing attention to the Black women's labor from post-abolition Brazil to the contemporary United States.
Space to Forget by Titus Kaphar, 2015
This exhibition was extremely well done in every aspect, the thoughtful curation and research efforts make all the difference. Each of the 130 works of art are necessary to add critical layers of context and history that make this show informative and important. This unique exhibition beautifully highlights a long-overdue collection of talented artists and forces the viewers to learn about a difficult history that has never been explained through art prior to now. One is able to learn about the reality of life for Blacks as a result of slavery and unlearn any perception they might have prior to the exhibit as a result of white-washed and oversimplified history teaching.