The
Legacy of Slavery
The
Legacy of Slavery, a three part series of fired and glazed clay
with other objects, illustrates how the suffering endured by our
ancestors continues in the present, and how we can find within
ourselves the resilience which brought them through.
Each piece has an external aspect as well as internal information
for the heart and mind.
The
first piece, Legacy of Slavery: Male, shows dreams of freedom
persisting despite chains past and present.
The
second piece, Legacy of Slavery: Female, speaks to damaged self-esteem
and loss of power in the pursuit of white standards and the persistence
of authentic power within.
The
third piece, Legacy of Slavery: Seven Generations, illustrates
the ways in which we, like all victims of trauma, have continued
to re-enact our abusive history in a futile attempt to resolve
it.
"Traditional" African American child rearing methods, in particular
corporal punishment, often recreate the ways in which our ancestors
were degraded and physically attacked by people who had power
over them.
Separation of children from their parents, whether by abandonment,
imprisonment or addiction, is another sad re-enactment.
We
cannot hope to progress as a people and heal these multi-generational
injuries until we become self-aware about how we treat one another,
especially our children. We must examine and question every aspect
of our assumptions about this, even as we continue to struggle
against systemic racism and individual prejudice.
It
has been seven generations since the end of slavery.
When will the suffering end?
