When looking at each individual work in Danielle Scott's exhibition, Kinfolk, there were a few artworks that caught my eye immediately. One of them being Ruth Afontaine Family (Fig. 1), which is a mixed medium assemblage and resin. The piece contains what could be the Afontaine Family in front of a structure that the artist, Danielle Scott, constructed of wood, gold foil, and text from copies of old documents. Next, there's True Love Galennie (Fig. 2), which is also a mixed medium assemblage and resin. This piece is of either a mother, grandmother, aunt, or even a close friend with three children. Just as the last artwork, Danielle Scott added in colorful and intricate designs as the new fabric that the figures in the artworks are wearing. The last piece is MaDear Seamstress (Fig. 3), and this piece is also a mixed medium assemblage and resin. The piece has an elderly woman with a piece of cloth in hand sitting on a porch.
Seeing Danielle Scott’s in person really sets in the message that the title really encompasses. Kinfolk is defined as “Your kinfolk are the people in your family. Even very distant cousins you've never met can be described as your kinfolk. When anthropologists use the term kinfolk, they mean people who are related by blood and share a common ancestor (Kinfolk - definition, meaning & synonyms. Vocabulary.com).” The relationship that all the people in the pieces share is their ancestors who were forcefully enslaved and their descendants who continue to face injustices on the land they were forced to make their new home. The message for each piece can be put into one word, honor. One thing that most cultures share, especially for people of color is,”honor your ancestors.” Whether those ancestors were related by blood or not. Family is about the connections one makes. It’s essentially the same as honoring the country or culture one is from. The audience may interpret it differently depending on how they were raised and how they view the world, but also how the world may view them. Someone whose ancestors were enslaved could be more emotionally connected to the artworks. It could also be empowering for others to see people who’ve gone through so much be adorned in luxurious jewelry, usually meant for powerful white figures, intricately designed fabrics, and covered in gold that is reminiscent of 15th century Flemish art. Another thing to be said about the pieces is that the women in them are such prominent figures. Of course there are other artworks that put women at the forefront. But there can never be enough. It’s recognizable in all three works if chosen. I can feel the connection because of the relationship I have with the important women in my life. I can say for certain that there’s photos similar to the ones in the pieces that are in my family’s photo albums.
These personal stories that are shown but never told to us raise the question of why injustice is still ongoing. Why do some people still harbor hatred? Why do some ignore it? And why do others want to pretend like it never happened? Some may fear that things will change, but history is there to remind us that we can do better. It’s better to learn and teach than to cause more harm to one another.
Which is why I consider these artworks activist. “Activism is the practice of taking direct action to achieve political or social goals. Activism can involve supporting a particular cause (or range of causes) or opposing it. Activism uses direct (and continued) actions, such as protests, lawsuits, lobbying, petitions, and strikes (Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Activism definition & meaning.).” Delivering the stories and educating the masses through artworks is what The Art of Activism stands by. “All being an activist really entails is having an idea of what needs to be changed and doing something about it (Duncombe, S., & Lambert, S. (2021).” The scenery and subjects in Ruth Afontaine Family (Fig. 1) and True Love Galennie (Fig. 2) remind me of a quote from Understanding Patriarchy by Bell Hooks,“We lived in farm country, isolated from other people. Our sense of gender roles was learned from our parents, from the ways we saw them behave.” Most of my knowledge of slavery in America was learned through schooling and from different types of media so I may not be correct, but most plantations had the slave owners living in huge estates and had the slaves that worked in various fields, not just in Cotten, living far away from the main house as to not see them work. Isolated from the white rich families. This led to most of the children born on these plantations to learn their roles from how their parents behaved. Both in social settings and gender roles. If they didn’t learn fast enough then the patriarchy, which still puts rich white men at the top, would teach them. In MaDear Seamstress (Fig. 3) a quote from On Photography by Susan Sontag comes to mind,“To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge — and, therefore, like power.” The words “putting oneself into a certain relation” is the part that catches my eyes due to the fact that that’s what I was doing while viewing the work. I imagined that the woman in the piece was my grandmother, which is probably what a lot of people may experience doing. It’s a way of connecting oneself to others.
(Fig. 1) Ruth Afontaine Family, 2022
(Fig. 2) True Love Galennie, 2022
(Fig. 3) MaDear Seamstress, 2022
In addition to the written response please create a SELFIE in any style that is inspired by the work in the exhibition and addresses the theme of identity and struggle. Include this in your post with a short description of the image you created.
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