A Poetic Correction // REDEMPTION, Jennifer Davis Carey
Redemption is an exhibition of portraits made by Jennifer Davis Carey, who gracefully redeems the subjects with beautiful period clothing. The clothing is applied over the images with vitreous enamel. Her work re-envisions and re-interprets daguerreotypes of enslaved Africans commissioned in 1850 by Harvard professor Louis Agassiz for anthropological study. (For historical reference, Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” was published in 1859.) These images are the earliest known photos of American slaves and the subject of present day controversy, as Harvard is still profiting from the use of the images and in litigation over the study and exploitation. Accompanying Carey's work in her Redemption exhibition is a vintage writing box containing copies of the original photographs along with excerpts from Agassiz’s writings on race. Universities and slavery are truly bound by history with race always as a political issue. There is evidence that Agassiz's work influenced Hitler, according to the Swiss Historian, Hans Fässler.
The original daguerreotypes made by Joseph T. Zealey capture the images of unclad, enslaved people. By ‘clothing’ the subjects and re-contextualizing the Agassiz/Zealey images, this body of work seeks to redeem the targets of the distorted, ‘scientific’ gaze and move the pictures into the realm of photographic portraiture. The altered images humanize the subjects, inviting the viewer to regard their faces, attire, and demeanor and by doing so, individualize them. This shift allows the viewer to see and engage with each subject in a different way—in consideration of the gaze of the subject upon the man behind the lens and of the viewer.
Inspiring this work are images of enslaved persons commissioned in the 1850s to prove Professor Louis Agassiz’s theory that Blacks were an inferior creation. Since their discovery in 1976, 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. The images of enslaved people posed 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. This project individualizes these people and redefines their relationship with the viewer and with history.
Each of the five people who are the focus of this exhibit are pictured in new ways: in period attire, in a vintage daguerreotype case, as a wall portrait in period clothing. To stand in opposition to Agassiz’s view of the subjects as degraded beings by virtue of their African roots, they are rendered in splendid, joyful African-inspired attire. While Agassiz commissioned images to reflect his personal view of the subjects, the images offered in Redemption picture the subjects in ways that I believe they would have wanted to be seen.
JR: How did you come to discover the daguerreotypes and the study at The Library of Congress?
When I first viewed the original images nearly two decades ago, I experienced them as a shock to the eye, the mind, and indeed, the soul. The images have stayed with me over the years, and despite the slim historical record, I have read as much as possible to understand better the lives of Fassena, Renty, Delia, Drana, and Jack. The 2010 book, Delia’s Tears, by Molly Rogers, a look at race, science, and photography with a focus on the Agassiz images, deepened my interest. Also, in African-rooted spiritual tradition, the concept of the Ancestor is potent. While the five individuals whose images I worked with are not of my direct lineage, I consider them my spiritual ancestors. I claim them.
JR: Can you describe the technique that you used to bring the beautiful clothing to life?
Vitreous or hot enameling is the fusing of finely ground glass to metal, an ancient art dating back to the Bronze Age. Enamelists work with glass frit which comes in a variety of colors and is kiln fired onto a metal substrate at temperatures up to 1650 degrees. The firing results in a raised product that is intensely colored and permanent. The technique chosen for this project allows me to both accurately recreate and alter the original images to make and present them with a different narrative.
Over the years my work has employed a variety of techniques and addresses eclectic subject matter. It includes both abstract and representational techniques. My artworks are informed by themes of childhood, mythology, history, religion, spirituality, African American culture, and pre-historic art. More recently, my work has been informed by the forms and colors in traditional African arts, the translation of traditional African spirituality to the people of the Diaspora, and aspects of African American history.
JR: How do you know when your idea formulates?
My process is developmental. The research, processing the execution of images, considering my focus—what I want to say and what I want the viewer to see. In some ways I am mimicking the reader-writer relationship and the elements of literature—what is the theme, the mood, these are the same things a writer or a reader considers. At some point there is a ‘yes!’ moment. With the Redemption series that moment came after many questions about what was so profoundly disturbing to me about the images—yes, the history, and yes, the arrogance of Agassiz and, yes, the offense of race science. Personally, it was an absolute violation, their forced nakedness that I felt the need to remedy.
Drana with blue suit, beautiful period attire, vitreous enamel added on steel daguerreotype (re-contextualized). All images © Jennifer Davis Carey, photographed by Michelle May
JR: Art is subjective and many of us react to art based on our own personal experience and knowledge. What was it about this work that connected you? Can you tell us more about anything that would help us understand that connection?
My ancestors—my mother’s people from Barbados and my father’s people from Mississippi were enslaved. For me, the original images represent not just Delia, Renty, Fassena, Jack, and Drana, but rather each one of those held in bondage as a result the Americas’ Original Sin. For me, this project individualizes these people and by extension all of the enslaved, and thereby redefines the relationship of those held captive to the viewer and to history.
JR: What did you feel as an artist and as a person of color as you constructed the clothing on the unclad people with their faces looking back at you? I imagine that the process was powerful and transforming.
In designing and executing these images, I opened myself to imagining how, given the choice, without coercion, the subjects would have wanted to be photographed. At this point in history, photography was new and those sitting for portraits attired themselves in their best for images to be shared with others or preserved for posterity. I felt it important to render the altered images as they would have been in that time—the immediate pre-war era—as both “daguerreotypes” in vintage cases and as formal wall portraits. By dressing his subjects in resplendent and joyful African inspired dress, I also wanted to provide a rebuke to Agassiz and his theories of race science that considered Blacks, and anything grounded in African cultures, as degraded.
JR: Can you tell us about the Ancestor concept and your act of “claiming” them?
In African-rooted spiritual tradition, the concept of the Ancestor is potent. Ancestors are the realization of belief in eternal existence of souls of the dead as individuals and as the manifestation of the collective knowledge, experience, and wisdom of those who have lived before us, and sometimes the clarity of those yet to be born. Ancestors are direct lineal forebears or the shared remembrances of communities and peoples. While the five individuals whose images I worked with are not of my direct lineage I consider them my spiritual ancestors. I claim them. We share a history.
JR: Art is subjective and many of us react to art based on our own personal experience and knowledge. What was it about this work that connected you? Can you tell us more about anything that would help us understand that connection?
My ancestors—my mother’s people from Barbados and my father’s people from Mississippi were enslaved. For me, the original images represent not just Delia, Renty, Fassena, Jack, and Drana, but rather each one of those held in bondage as a result the Americas’ Original Sin. For me, this project individualizes these people and by extension all of the enslaved, and thereby redefines the relationship of those held captive to the viewer and to history.
JR: What did you feel as an artist and as a person of color as you constructed the clothing on the unclad people with their faces looking back at you? I imagine that the process was powerful and transforming.
In designing and executing these images, I opened myself to imagining how, given the choice, without coercion, the subjects would have wanted to be photographed. At this point in history, photography was new and those sitting for portraits attired themselves in their best for images to be shared with others or preserved for posterity. I felt it important to render the altered images as they would have been in that time—the immediate pre-war era—as both “daguerreotypes” in vintage cases and as formal wall portraits. By dressing his subjects in resplendent and joyful African inspired dress, I also wanted to provide a rebuke to Agassiz and his theories of race science that considered Blacks, and anything grounded in African cultures, as degraded.
JR: Can you tell us about the Ancestor concept and your act of “claiming” them?
In African-rooted spiritual tradition, the concept of the Ancestor is potent. Ancestors are the realization of belief in eternal existence of souls of the dead as individuals and as the manifestation of the collective knowledge, experience, and wisdom of those who have lived before us, and sometimes the clarity of those yet to be born. Ancestors are direct lineal forebears or the shared remembrances of communities and peoples. While the five individuals whose images I worked with are not of my direct lineage I consider them my spiritual ancestors. I claim them. We share a history.
Jack, detail of vitreous enamel on steel. Original Zealy image read: "Jack (driver), Guinea. Plantation of B.F. Taylor, Esq. Columbia, S.C. "Drana & Jack, Delia, in sourced daguerreotype case (middle)Delia, period attire, detail of vitreous enamel on steel.
All images are vitreous enamel added by Carey on steel daguerreotype photographs (re-contextualized) © Jennifer Davis Carey,
Photographed by Michelle May
JR: Thinking of your future as a contemplative and historically rich person, what is the underlying story that your work seeks to tell? We love where you are going, and we hope for more of it.
I look forward to continued exploration of the photo transfer technique and experimenting with its application in jewelry, wall arts and in using my own portrait, minimalist, and contemplative photographs. I also plan to continue working with the forms and colors in traditional African arts, the translation of traditional African spirituality to the people of the Diaspora, and aspects of African American history.
JR: [We ask and answer this one]. We must question information and not be complacent. Who are the study funders and those, even scientists who may be politically skewed, creating narratives that are consumed by adults and passed on to our children?
JR: History says it is the influencers, whoever has the loudest voice and the tallest soap box. In this case, Carey has poetically corrected one of the most influential scientific racists of the 19th century with her art. We think this his body of work is so important for all to see and appreciate. The emotional impact is so severe when we saw it at first. You imagine your family members subjected to such cruel and inhuman torture and humiliation. It further opens our eyes to systemic racism that plagues the United States, and makes us scrutinize how Agassiz was able to use bogus scientific posture to influence social policies in the mid-19th century. Authority must be earned and constantly tested.
Jack, period attire (left). All images © Jennifer Davis Carey, photographed by Michelle May
Follow Jennifer Davis Carey
W: jenniferdaviscarey.com
FB: jennifercareyartworks
Further videos of Jen speaking about the project and further reading:
Jennifer Davis Carey’s website
From The New York Times, Your Ancestors Were Slaves, Who Owns the Photos of Them?
