Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not

Cape Ann Museum Green

By: CAM - Aug 08, 2024

 

An Outdoor Public Art Installation
Cape Ann Museum Green, 13 Poplar Street, Gloucester, MA

Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not is a collaboration between artists Susi Ryan, Christle Rawlins-Jackson, and IlaSahai Prouty. Using their collective expertise in community-based art and engagement, quilting, historical research, and individual artistic practices, these artists have conducted research and held several community conversations over the past two years. During this period, they developed this summer’s outdoor installation at the Cape Ann Museum Green to explore and interpret the history of slavery on Cape Ann.

The project has moved through four cycles, each rooted in a week-long stay on Cape Ann: Reclamation, Trade Winds, Persistence, and Honoring. The cumulative research and stories on display will feature six large ‘sail-quilts’.

During each cycle, the artists conducted intimate investigations utilizing the resources of the Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives and additionally invited the community to consider the stories of the enslaved people of Cape Ann and the legacy of the slave economy for Cape Ann’s seaports. Parallel to their research, the artists opened conversations with and between community members and institutions, holding space within the collective for acknowledging, grieving, honoring, and celebrating the enslaved and freed people of Cape Ann. 

The artists were brought together by the work of Doris Prouty, an African American quilter who made Gloucester her home for nearly 50 years, when her work was exhibited posthumously at the Cape Ann Museum in 2022.

Related Programs:

Opening Ceremony - Vessels of Slavery: Forget Me Not

Saturday, August 10, 2024 from 1:00 - 4:00 pm
CAM Green, 13 Poplar Street, Gloucester, MA
Free and open to the public. Registration is required. 

Parking is at O'Maley Middle School with shuttle buses provided to CAM Green. 

CAMTalk: History Series Creating the Vessels of Slavery Project
Saturday, August 24 at 1:00 pm
Janet & William Ellery James Center
CAM Green, 13 Poplar Street, Gloucester, MA
Free and open to the public. Registration is required.