The Library shared the innovative work of its Of the People (OTP) program at the 22nd Annual Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival last month. The Library sponsored the film festival for the second year in a row (supported by the OTP grant from the Mellon Foundation), hosting presentations and highlighting Library resources at the festival’s Vineyard Lounge, an area of the festival that was free and open to the public.
The first event featured a conversation between Dr. Kimber Thomas, Connecting Communities Digital Initiative (CCDI) senior innovation specialist, and CCDI’s 2024 Artists/Scholars in Residence, Maya Freelon and Dr. Allie Martin.
Maya Freelon is an award-winning visual artist known for her unique tissue paper art, which allows her to visualize the transience and vulnerability of emotions. Her project, Whippersnappers: Recapturing, Reviewing, and Reimagining the Lives of Enslaved Children in the United States, uses archival photographs from the Library’s digital collections to create new artwork celebrating Black children in America.
“I want you to see that face, I want you to see those eyes, that innocence, that beauty.” – Maya Freelon, 2024 CCDI Artist/Scholar in Residence
For her project, Maya said that she chose images that represented “innocence, beauty, light and love amidst a terrible situation.” She didn’t want to focus on the atrocities that these children experienced, but instead wanted to focus on the innocence of these unnamed children.
Dr. Allie Martin is an ethnomusicologist, sound artist, and the director of the Black Sound Lab at Dartmouth College. Her work explores the connections between sound, race, and gentrification. Martin’s project, Sampling Black Life: Soundscapes and Critical Intention, uses Library collections to create soundscape compositions that explore the sounds of Black life in depth.
Allie described her soundscapes as being “sonic collages.” She said that she will sample “a bit from the [Library’s] collection and then breathe into it in some shape or form. Sometimes that’s using another sample from another collection and putting it in conversation, sometimes that’s me singing over it, sometimes that’s me playing an instrument over it, sometimes that’s me getting soundscapes and field recordings from contemporary life and putting those in conversation with the sample.”
Balancing historical accuracy and artistic interpretation
During the conversation, Dr. Thomas asked Freelon and Martin how they navigate the intersection of historical accuracy and artist interpretation in their CCDI work.
For Freelon, the experience of visiting the Library of Congress as an African American woman was emotional. “Not only am I looking for this very sensitive history, I’m doing it in a place that feels kind of sterile and not at home,” said Freelon. Not knowing how to find the images she was seeking and then finally seeing the historical images added another element of emotion to the experience.
Freelon spoke to the significance of reimagining history and honoring the lives of the individuals in those photographs. “For me, to see the children—there were a lot of children [whose photographs] I could not use. I couldn’t bring beauty to it because what those children experienced in those photographs was ugly. But I was able to find wonder, I was able to find innocence, I was able to find joy.” She aims to capture the attention of viewers, but also center the individuals in her work. “I don’t want to transform the [piece] into something that is so unrecognizable that you don’t know what it is, I want you to see that face, I want you to see those eyes, that innocence, that beauty.”
Martin’s work makes use of the methodology “sampling with critical intention,” which involves listening intently and sampling as ethically as possible, regardless of how long it may take. For example, the process of clearing samples to create her soundscape often involves seeking out people and developing relationships with them, such as attending church services to clear a sample from a pastor.
She also feels a sense of accountability to the individuals in the Library’s recordings and feels protective of their existence and their words. “I don’t splice their words. I let them tell their full story, I don’t cut them up too much, like I’m building [the soundscape] around them,” said Martin. “In terms of retaining the integrity, it’s always about taking the extra time to listen further and make sure that whatever I sample and whatever I do, I’m willing to stand on it.”
“We are archivists, you don’t need an MA or a PhD to be an archivist, you can start making these recordings now.” – Dr. Allie Martin, 2024 CCDI Artist/Scholar in Residence
Often, it’s up to everyday people to fill in the gaps found in archives and institutions. Martin remembered interviewing her own grandmother. “You never know when they’ll start telling you stories,” she said. She encouraged everyone to not only listen to but also record their elders and start collecting those stories now. “We are archivists, you don’t need an MA or a PhD to be an archivist, you can start making these recordings now,” she emphasized. Spending time with stories and telling them with authenticity is key to preserving Black history and culture. “The volume of stories is what inspires me, because I think we sometimes forget how extraordinary Black people are,” Martin said.
For Freelon, access is key. Prior to the start of her residency with the CCDI program, she didn’t realize how much of the Library’s collections were digitized. Knowing that these collections are available and ready to use provides artists with a huge resource that is waiting to be tapped, explored, and engaged with. Having these resources can also give artists the power to inspire change. “I actually wrote and entitled [my project] ‘Children Enslaved in the United States,’ because I want people to say that. People don’t even want to say that out loud, not Black people, not white people, it’s a taboo. Art inspires others to do something,” said Freelon.
Preserving Our History Through Visual Art
During the second day of the Library’s event, Freelon and Martin hosted workshops featuring the artistic mediums they are using for their CCDI projects.
Freelon hosted a tissue quilt workshop, during which attendees were able to create their own tissue paper pieces and join them together in a quilt. The quilt, full of vibrant hues of orange, red, pink, yellow, and blue hung in the Library’s tent for the remainder of the session.
“I was honored to share my artwork at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, in conversation with fellow CCDI Artist/Scholar, Dr. Allie Martin. Dr. Kimber Thomas’ insightful questions and the audience’s enthusiasm made it one of the most memorable events I’ve participated in thus far. The power and support of Black creativity was palpable, and it reiterated the importance of paying homage to our ancestors collectively. I look forward to attending again in the future!” said Freelon.
An exhibition for Freelon’s project will be open to the public from November 16, 2024 through January 17, 2025 at the historic Stagville Plantation in Durham, North Carolina. The interactive installation will feature 20 pieces, which will be on view in the home of Stagville’s former plantation owners.
Preserving Our History Through Sound
Martin produced an interactive audience-centered soundscape in front of MVAAFF attendees. This involved composing, recording, arranging, editing, and mixing a series of audio into one cohesive piece. The basis for the soundscape was a 1940 interview with Billy McCrea from Jasper, Texas. This interview is part of the Library’s Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories collection. In the interview, the interviewer repeatedly tries to encourage Billy McCrea, a formerly enslaved man, to sing. Martin asked the audience to sing along with the recording to support McCrea.
“I wanted to simulate the idea that I was taking Uncle Billy out of the Library so that we could do this and he could sing somewhere safe,” said Martin.
Martin’s mixing resulted in an audio piece that layered the audience’s vocals with McCrea’s and other sounds, creating a uniquely intimate experience for participants.
“Participating in the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival was a beautiful experience. It was an honor to be in conversation with Maya and Kimber, and our audiences engaged with the work very generously. I left feeling fulfilled and with new ideas on how the project can continue!” said Martin.
Sharing Library Resources
The event also offered the opportunity for Library staff to showcase Library materials and share information about Of the People’s internship and fellowship programs. Library senior advisors Deanna McCray-James and Nichelle Schoultz coordinated the Library’s sessions and joined CCDI staff detailee Michelle Minor to speak with attendees about additional Of the People program activities, Junior Fellows summer internships, and Archives, History, and Heritage Advanced internships.
CCDI is part of the Library’s Of the People: Widening the Path program with support from the Mellon Foundation. This four-year program provides financial and technical support to individuals, institutions and organizations to create imaginative projects using the Library’s digital collections and centering one or more of the following groups: Black, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latinx, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and other communities of color from any of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and its territories and commonwealths (Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands). Learn more about CCDI here.