Slave Narrative 2
Victor Ekpuk, Nigerian, born 1964
2007 / 2015
Graphite and pastel on paper
Overall: 42 × 59 1/2 in. (106.7 × 151.1 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Claire and Richard P. Morse 1953 Fund, the William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Fund and the Alvin and Mary Bert Gutman ’40 Acquisition Fund
2015.28.2
Geography
Place Made: Nigeria, Western Africa, Africa
Period
21st century
Object Name
Drawing
Research Area
Africa
Drawing
On view
Label
In Slave Narrative 2, Victor Ekpuk draws from the diagram of the Brookes slave ship that was widely circulated by British abolitionists. Ekpuk’s ship is composed of red dots to represent human cargo crammed into the overfilled hold. Below, the artist used a typewriter eraser to create struggling human forms in the vast sea, referring to those thrown overboard during the transatlantic journey. The symbolism of erasing to create represents Ekpuk’s nod to the ways in which Africans were stripped of their humanity and individual identities during enslavement. Scenes in the deep-brown background such as lynching extend the narrative to address the events that precipitated the civil rights movement, and perhaps more recent ones such as the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2015, the year this drawing was completed.
From the 2026 exhibition Inhabiting Historical Time: Slavery and Its Afterlives, curated by Amelia Kahl (Barbara C. & Harvey P. Hood 1918 Senior Curator of Academic Programming) and Alisa Swindell (Associate Curator of Photography)
Course History
ARTH 2, Introduction to the History of Art II, Joy Kenseth, Mary Coffey, Winter 2016
AAAS 10, Introduction to African American Studies, Trica Keaton, Winter 2020
Gallery Talk: The Embodiment of Language, Winter 2020
SART 27, SART 28, Printmaking I and II, Tricia Treacy, Fall 2020
AAAS 10.01, Introduction to African American Studies, Trica Keaton, Spring 2022
SART 27.01, Printmaking I, Tricia Treacy, Fall 2022
History 85.01, African and African American Studies 88.23, The Black Atlantic, Ernesto Mercado-Montero, Winter 2024
History 36.03, Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies 66.36, Geography 70.02, Histories of the Carceral State, Bench Ansfield, Spring 2024
Exhibition History
Auto-Graphics: Recent Drawings by Victor Ekpuk, Kinkead Pavilion, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, January 24 – July 27, 2014; Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 18-August 2, 2015.
Inhabiting Historical Time: Slavery and Its Afterlives, Jaffe and Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 20, 2025 - July 11, 2026.
Points of View, Art History 2, ARTH 2, Winter 2016, Joy Kenseth and Mary Coffey, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Harrington Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 1-March 13, 2016.
The Embodiment of Language, First Floor Corridor, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 18-May 24, 2020.
Works on Paper: Studies in Contrast, Teaching Exhibition, Art History 2, Class of 1967 Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, January 14-April 9, 2023.
Provenance
The artist, Alexandria, Virginia; sold to present collection, 2015.
This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.
We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu