Freedom: A Fable; A Curious Interpretation of the Wit of a Negress in Troubled Times, Peter Norton Family Christmas Project 1997

Label

In this pop-up book Kara Walker illustrates and narrates the envisioned emancipation of an enslaved woman and her journey from the planation to the American Colony of Liberia. This two-page spread depicts her reverie in Liberia, which Walker refers to as the "New World." The colony was often depicted as a part of the Back to Africa movement, which presented a "solution" to the problem of slavery. This work reflects the various iterations of Eden in the black narrative and colonial imagination, often referencing tropical places where black people could someday be free.

Walker is known for her large-scale works that adapt traditional French silhouette technique and often reflect on the sexual violence inflicted upon black bodies. In this small book format, however, Walker engages the viewer directly with her subjects and their stories through the act of turning the page.

From the 2019 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 97, Black Bodies on the Cross, curated by Victoria McCraven '19, Homma Family Intern

Course History

HIST 16, AAAS 12, Black America to the Civil War, Rashauna Chenault, Winter 2013

SOCY 7.2, Race and Ethnicity, Emily Walton, Spring 2014

SOCY 7.1, Race and Ethnicity, Emily Walton, Winter 2015

SART 22, Figure Drawing, Brenda Garand, Winter 2015

AAAS 67.5, GEOG 21.01, Black Consciousness and Black Feminisms, Abigail Neely, Winter 2019

AAAS 7.05, Imagining Black Freedom in America since the Civil War, Julie Rabig, Spring 2020

ENGL 62.22/AAAS 88.11, Atlantic Slavery to Atlantic Freedom, Alysia Garrison, Winter 2021

AAAS 88.19, Contemporary African-American Artists, Michael Chaney, Summer 2021

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

Africa and African-American Studies 10.01, Introduction to African American Studies, Trica Keaton 1, Winter 2023

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 19, Playing Around with Art, Dianne Choie, Class of 2004, Education Department Intern, Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 27-May 23, 2004.

A Space for Dialogue 74, Text as Image / Image as Text: Narratives of African American History and Identity, Emma Routhier, Class of 2012, Levinson Intern, Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 3-December 2, 2012.

A Space for Dialogue 88, Still We Rise, Women of Color Existence / Resistance in Contemporary Art, Taylor Payer, Class of 2015, Kathryn Conroy Intern, Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 30 -July 12, 2015.

A Space for Dialogue 97, Black Bodies on the Cross, Victoria McCraven, Class of 2019, Homma Family Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 9, 2019-January 4, 2020.

Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 1-August 10, 2008; Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, September 10-December 10, 2008; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California, January 21-April 26, 2009.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery elevator vestibule, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 6-December 11, 2005.

No Laughing Matter: Visual Humor in Ideas of Race, Nationality, and Ethnicity, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, in conjunction with the Humanities Institute, Leslie Center for the Humanities, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 6-December 9, 2007.

Turning Pages: Contemporary Women Artists' Books, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 22-July 18, 1999.

Publication History

Barbara Thompson, Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body, Seattle: University of Washington Press [Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College], 2008, p. 338, plate 118.

Emma Routhier, A Space for Dialogue 74, Text as Image / Image as Text: Narratives of African American History and Identity, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2012, checklist, no. 4.

Taylor Payer, A Space for Diagolgue 88, Still We Rise, Women of Color Esistence / Resistance in Contemporary Art, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2015, ill. title page, checklist no. 6.

Victoria McCraven, A Space for Dialogue 97, Black Bodies on the Cross, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2020.

Provenance

Commissioned for the 1997 Peter Norton Family Christmas Project; given to the Director of the Hood Museum of Art, 1997; given to the present collection, 1997.

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