I Was Here

One of the foundational precepts of the project is to take the humanities out of the museum, the university, the art gallery, and bring them onto the street so that citizens come face to face with a visual history lesson rarely, if ever, encountered on the streets of America.

Based on archival records, the enslavement of Africans touched almost every corner of the United States. i was here synthesizes a wealth of humanities and historical scholarship into a set of iconic Ancestor Spirit Portraits that create a comprehensive visual history bringing the past into view. The images allow light to pass through. They are clearly visible on both sides creating a visual metaphor for the complexities that embody this wound.