BLK PEARLS: The Theory and History Behind my Critical Commentary on The Purported Monetary, Cultural and Historical ‘Value’ of Blackness

Supplementary critical research outlining the development, content, context, and ideas that have informed my current practice and upcoming show proposal.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade, White Supremacy, and the Transformation of Black Bodies into Objects of Commerce

The combination of installation, sculpture, and performance that I have outlined within my degree show proposal has its conceptual foundation in a horrific historical event. “In September 1781, the British slaver Zong set sail from the western coast of Africa en route to the busy slave markets of Jamaica. In addition to its captain, Luke Collingwood, and a distinguished passenger named Robert Stubbs, the retiring governor of a coastal slave fort, the ship had a crew of seventeen sailors and a cargo of 440 Africans bound for sale and slave labor in the colonies. Disease and insufficient provisions made the transatlantic crossing particularly hellish and, as the Zong approached Jamaica, Captain Collingwood determined that he could best serve the interests of the voyage's investors by throwing the feeblest slaves overboard. Since the Zong was protected by a marine insurance contract, the owners could then seek compensation for their lost "property." Captain Collingwood's financial calculations led to a mass killing that would one day be called the Zong Massacre. Over the course of three days, the slavers forced 133 shackled human beings into the ocean. The ship's sole passenger, Governor Stubbs, passively watched the atrocity unfold from belowdecks as body after body plunged into the sea beneath his cabin window. Stubbs would later be called to testify at a trial in Liverpool, but the horrifying events [End Page 251] he witnessed were viewed by the court as potential insurance fraud rather than cold-blooded murder.”1

This chilling event was just one of thousands, if not millions of occurrences in which a dominant white party attempted to ascertain the so-called “value” of blackness. African captives had to undergo valuations before being auctioned off to white slavers in much the same way as cattle; they were poked, prodded and examined by medical professionals who intended to establish whether or not they were in good enough condition to be sold on. As described by Alexander Falconbridge in his book entitled, ‘An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa’, “if [slaves] are afflicted with any infirmity, or are deformed, or have bad eyes or teeth; if they are lame, or weak in the joints, or distorted in the back, or of a slender make, or are narrow in the chest; in short, if they have been, or are afflicted in any manner, so as to render them incapable of much labour, they are rejected.”2 This ‘rejection’ can be perceived as a commercial death of sorts, in which the monetary value of the slaves in question would be too low for those selling them to make a substantial profit. All too often, this ‘commercial death’ resulted in the actual death of these individuals.

Nine years after the Zong Massacre, a select committee was appointed in Britain’s House of Commons to ‘consider further the circumstances of the Slave Trade.’ Minutes taken from the meeting of that committee have been committed to history, and provide the opportunity for individuals in the present to gain insight into the extent of the horrors of Britain’s past. There are many passages in which the cruelty exercised on slaves who were deemed to be of no commercial value is well represented. One such passage speaks of a Mr Wilson, the chief mate of a slave ship who, “Purchased the young man and woman; the other was too old, and he refused to buy him: Lemma Lemma then ordered him (the old man) into the canoe, and his head was laid upon one of the thwarts of the boat, and chopped off, and immediately thrown overboard.” 3 Another describes, “A beautiful infant boy, brought along-side the ship in a canoe, for the purpose of sale; having been along-side of all the trading ships, and not able to sell it there, they brought it to the Phoenix [presumably a vessel of the Royal Navy], the ship I belonged to, and threatened to toss it overboard if no one purchased it. I then purchased the infant for a quarter calk of Vidonia wine, and brought him to England, and gave him to Lord Shelburne.”4 The fact that anyone could harbour such hatred and disregard for human life based solely upon the tone of an individual’s skin is utterly unfathomable. To hear a newborn baby being referred to as ‘it’, as though they are entirely without humanity, and to read accounts in which the crew of a ship would go so far as to consider ‘tossing it overboard’ make me sick to my very stomach. The individuals from who I am descended were considered with less regard than animals. One final report from the minutes of this committee meeting perfectly summarises the extent of this disregard. One witness testified as follows, “I do declare, that I have known the doctor’s mate report a Slave dead, and have him thrown over-board, when there has been life in him, and he has struggled in the water after being thrown over-board; this I saw; and why they did this, not one on board could imagine, only to get clear of the trouble; that was the conjecture of them that saw it.”5

There were many occurences that were similar in nature to the Zong Massacre, but apparently none on a scale which could rival it were so publicly known. When news of the massacre spread throughout the Western world, “It helped to create a transatlantic abolition movement that would eventually close down the Middle Passage. Because of this, the Zong massacre is sometimes said by historians to mark the beginning of the end of transatlantic slavery.”6 Without the tragedy that was the Zong Massacre, the aforementioned committee meeting would probably have been delayed, thus Britain’s abolition of slavery would have been delayed also. Britain abolished the Atlantic Slave Trade in 1807, and the United States followed suit in 1808. What is interesting about this period of abolition is how both these nations, who had played such a significant role in the commodification of black bodies, chose to handle the transition from black people legally being considered as objects of commerce to becoming legal citizens.

One would assume that the main priority of these governments would be to ensure that these human beings, who had been enslaved against their will for the entirety of their lives in some cases, would receive compensation for the unimaginable horrors to which they were subjected on a daily basis during their enslavement. Or that each individual would receive some sort of payment package so that they could begin their life as a free citizen of the state. Neither the British nor American government did any such thing. In fact, when Britain’s Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 “Freed all slaves held in legal bondage in Britain’s West Indian sugar colonies [...] ​compensation​ became the cornerstone of every Government abolition plan for, without it, the West India Interest threatened to obstruct the transition from slavery to free wage labour. Thus, the Act provided for more than simple emancipation; it gave the slave owners an unprecedented and unconditional grant of £20 million sterling as compensation for their loss of human property,”7 In the United States, descended into a four year civil war8 because several southern states did not want to part with their so-called “human property.” The ‘Three Fifths Compromise’ of 17879 had already made certain that black people in America were only valued at three fifths of a human being each. They were lawfully considered to be less than human.

Though these events took place just over 230 years ago, they undoubtedly continue to affect race relations and the lives of black people in the present day. The ‘otherness’ of the black community and the perceptions of black people as being less than human persists in the modern Western world, rooted deeply in the white supremacy that fueled the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Contemporary issues of colourism, racial poverty, and even the recent Windrush deportations all showcase the residual effects of slavery in the modern day, as either internalised or externalised issues that affect that black community.

It is for this reason that I will be working the concept of the ‘valuation’ into the performance of my piece. Pearls that have been extracted from real oysters undergo a valuation process of their own, in which professionals analyse the type, size, colour, surface quality, and shape of each gem to establish its monetary value. My BLK Pearls, each of which have their own distinct combination of (stereotypically black) human features will undergo the same process when I extract them from the giant clams that I have made. The idea is that I will be celebrating the features for which many black people have suffered ridicule throughout history, such as ‘broad’ noses, ‘dark’ skin, ‘large’ lips etc. In fact, the broader, darker, and larger the features, the higher the value of that pearl will be.

Historical and Contemporary Art Influences: Challenging the Art World’s Status Quo

It is imperative to me that values of black beauty are brought into modern gallery spaces, and that the shared history of my community is celebrated, preserved, and made available to future generations to experience, that they may be enriched by this knowledge and not lose sight of where they have come from. It is of the utmost importance to me that my work serves as a vessel for the heritage and history that I have inherited from my elders and ancestors. It must honour them, and present their stories in the most dignified possible way – even if I am attempting to address an issue or historical event with humour.

On an aesthetic level, it is extremely important to me that the space I create for my final show allows viewers to have this very particular experience. I have recently found myself to be greatly inspired by the work of Japanese artist Takashi Kuribayashi, whose installations spark both mysticism and intrigue. I am fascinated by the extent to which he is able to essentially create his own worlds. It is as though he creates entire micro ecosystems within gallery spaces, bringing snippets of real landscapes into white cubes across Japan. What makes his work so effective in capturing viewers' imaginations is perhaps the level of realism Kuribayashi has been able to achieve. In his piece entitled “Sea Clouds” [pictured below],

viewers obviously understand that, being at ground level, the mountainous landscape and mist of clouds before them are not real. However, the aesthetic qualities and expert execution of the piece makes viewers feel as though they are standing high above actual mountain tops, looking down upon real clouds. Kuribayashi creates impossible and mystical spaces, the effectiveness of which I can only hope to capture in my own installation for the show.

His pieces are each like something out of a fairytale, and I believe the reason they work so well is because of the way in which Kuribayashi considers the participation of his audience. In ‘Sea Clouds,’ the audience is invited to quite literally walk amongst the clouds on a high platform. The height of this platform adds to the illusion that the viewer is standing several thousand above sea level, and the familiarity of the landscape positioned below them further adds to this effect. Audience perspective and participation appear to be factors that Kuribayashi takes very seriously within his work. A piece in which he exploits these two things particularly well is entitled ‘Forest from Forest,’ [below] in which a paper forest landscape is suspended above the ground, with holes torn in its floor just large enough for a viewer to stick their head through. There is something incredibly fairytale-like about this approach. The holes act almost as a gateway between worlds, like the wardrobe in the C.S. Lewis’ ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ or the rabbit hole in Lewis Carol’s ‘Alice in Wonderland.’

That infamous sense of childlike wonder is what I wish to capture in the cave I create for my final show, wherein the entrance will hopefully act as an effective ‘gateway’ from our real realm into a fantasy one. I plan to do this by dressing the entrance to look like real rock, making it a snippet of a natural environment in the real world to which many viewers can relate; per Kuribayashi’s approach. If I can capture even a fraction of the realism and effectiveness demonstrated within Kuribayashi’s installations, I will be very pleased.

Black Pearls: Links to Contemporary Black Culture

The current movement of self love within the black community is something that I wish to celebrate within my work. On an archival level, I feel as though it is incredibly important to record this historical shift in the way in which black people value themselves within the Western world. A recent song by Beyoncé perfectly captures this modern movement of black self love. The song, entitled, “Brown Skin Girl,” celebrates both blackness and womanhood, making it somewhat of an anthem for black women when it was released in the summer of 2019. It celebrated a group of women whose skin tone has historically and systematically been the source of extreme ridicule and social disadvantage. Some of the song’s most pertinent lyrics are as follows:

“Brown skin girl/
Your skin's just like pearls/ The best thing in the world/

I'd never trade you for anybody else
[...]
Oh, have you looked in the mirror lately?/
Wish you could trade eyes with me 'cause/
There's complexities in complexion/ But your skin, it glows like diamonds [...]
The men dem gon' fall in love/
With you and all of your glory/
Your skin is not only dark/
It shines and it tells your story/
Keep dancin', they can't control you/
They watchin', they all adore you/
If ever you are in doubt, remember what mama told you”

Perhaps most powerful of all was the song’s reception. In a video posted by Beyoncé 14 herself on her Instagram page, dancing along to the song. This included actress/model Lupita Nyongo and singer Kelly Rowland, whose beauty Beyoncé highlights in the song’s lyrics. The comparison of brown skin to black pearls is something to which many contemporary black women can relate on account of ‘Brown Skin Girl.’ My target audience is the everyday black woman. I understand and acknowledge the fact that, as a result of their historical exclusion from upstanding gallery spaces, members of the public who visit museums and galleries in England the least are black. There is no specific data on the number of black women who visit museums and galleries across the country, but I think it would be safe to assume from the data in the graph below that their numbers would be very low. I have witnessed the extent to which art with the dedicated purpose of inspiring black women can be powerfully effective – when marketed in the correct way and presented on the correct platform. Beyoncé’s song is a testament to that.

I hope to produce work that moves and inspires. I hope to showcase it in unprecedented exhibition venues, the likes of which have never showcased contemporary Afrocentric artwork before. I hope to entice and encourage black women to visit these spaces and, that they be enriched by the storytelling within my work. There are so many things that I wish to share and so many stories I have to tell.

Footnotes

1 Krikler, Jeremy. “A Chain of Murder in the Slave Trade: A Wider Context of the Zong Massacre.” International Review of Social History 57, no. 3 (2012): 396.

2 Falconbridge, Alexander. “An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa,” p. 17.

3 Minutes [1790] Of The Evidence Taken Before A Select Committee referred to consider the Slave Trade, pp. 361–362: HC Sessional Papers, vol. 73 (4 April 1790–9 June 1790), pp. 367–368.

4 Ibid. (Minutes), p. 206: testimony of Sir George Young: HC Sessional Papers, vol. 73 (4 April 1790–9 June 1790), p. 208.

5 Minutes [1790] Of The Evidence Taken Before A Select Committee referred to
consider [y] the Slave Trade, p. 158: HC Sessional Papers, vol. 73 (4 April 1790–9 June 1790), p. 160

6 Opitz, Andrew. "Atlantic Modernity and the Wreckage of History." Cultural Critique 68 (2008): pp 251-252.

7 Butler, Mary, “Fair and Equitable Consideration: the Distribution of Slave Compensation in Jamaica and Barbados” The Journal of Caribbean History; Kingston, Jamaica Vol. 22, Iss. 1, (Jan 1, 1988): p138.

8

9

10 “Works: Takashi Kuribayashi.” takashikuribayashi. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://www.takashikuribayashi.com/works.

11 Ibid

12 “Works: Takashi Kuribayashi.” Takashi Kuribayashi. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://www.takashikuribayashi.com/works.

13 Ibid

14 https://www.instagram.com/p/B0XJaShn23T/?igshid=d1uoz5g2vc9w

15 “Visits to Museums and Galleries.” GOV.UK Ethnicity facts and figures. Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, December 17, 2019.

Bibliography

Butler, Mary, “Fair and Equitable Consideration: the Distribution of Slave Compensation in Jamaica and Barbados” The Journal of Caribbean History; Kingston, Jamaica Vol. 22, Iss. 1, (Jan 1, 1988): p138.

Falconbridge, Alexander. “An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa” (London, 1788; repr. New York, 1973), p. 17.

Krikler, Jeremy. “A Chain of Murder in the Slave Trade: A Wider Context of the Zong Massacre.” International Review of Social History 57, no. 3 (2012): pp 393–415. doi:10.1017/S0020859012000491.

“Minutes of the evidence taken before a committee of the House of Commons, being a Select Committee, appointed on the 23d day of April 1790: to take the examination of the several witnesses ordered by the House to attend the Committee of the whole House, to whom it is referred to consider further of the circumstances of the slave trade”, pp. 361–362: HC Sessional Papers, vol. 73 (4 April 1790–9 June 1790), pp. 367–368.

Opitz, Andrew. "Atlantic Modernity and the Wreckage of History." Cultural Critique 68 (2008): 251-254. doi:10.1353/cul.2008.0012. pp 251-252.

“Visits to Museums and Galleries.” GOV.UK Ethnicity facts and figures. Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, December 17, 2019. https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/culture-and-community/culture-and-herita ge/adults-visiting-museums-and-galleries/latest​.

“Works: Takashi Kuribayashi.” takashikuribayashi. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://www.takashikuribayashi.com/works​.

Table of Figures

Figure 1: A nineteenth century image of slavers throwing slaves overboard. Engraving from: A. M. (Austa Malinda) French, Slavery in South Carolina and the ex-slaves; or, The Port Royal Mission (New York, 1862), p. 193. Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Figure 2: Botticelli, Sandro, “Birth of Venus,” Oil on Canvas, 1485-1486, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

Figure 3: Kuribayashi, Takashi, “Wolkenmeer (Sea Clouds)” Installation, 2012, Towada Art Center, Aomori, Japan

Figures 4: Kuribayashi, Takashi, “Wolkenmeer (Sea Clouds)” Installation, 2012, Towada Art Center, Aomori, Japan

Figure 5: Kuribayashi, Takashi, “Wolkenmeer (Sea Clouds),” Installation, 2012, Towada Art Center, Aomori, Japan.

Figure 6: Kuribayashi, Takashi, “Wald aus Wald (Forest from Forest),” Installation, 2010, Mori Art Museum,Tokyo, Japan

Figure 7: Kuribayashi, Takashi, “Wald aus Wald (Forest from Forest),” Installation, 2010, Mori Art Museum,Tokyo, Japan

Figure 8: Percentage of people aged 16 and over who visited a museum or gallery in the past year, by ethnicity in England, 2018-2019. Information from HMS Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sports ‘Taking Part Survey’