'Slave ship Spirits of Sao Jose Paquete Africa' Sculpture

Pewter, nails, lead, bell jar The shiplike sculpture has nails only on one side that represent half of the lives of slaves lost on the slave ship Sao Jose Paquette Africa. It references the African Nkisi wooden ‘nail figures’ that have nails driven in to figures to protect a village, prove guilt or innocence, heal the sick, end disasters, bring revenge, a petition for help or healing, efforts to abolish evil and to settle disputes. The lead strip inside the ‘ship’ represents the ballast described above that balanced the weight of human cargo. The ship was originally modeled in wax with found nails. It has been cast into pewter, as metal is considered powerful. The original nails, with half missing recognising half of the slaves aboard that lost their lives, are retained in the pewter cast. Glass bell jars were used in Victorian times as dust covers for taxidermy stuffed animals or birds for display, decoration and preservation. This references the slaves being valued as less than human. Here it protects the spirits of slavery and hopes that it preserves slavery to memory and to the past. In 2015 it is the first time the wreckage of a slaving ship that went down with slaves aboard has been recovered. On Dec. 3, 1794, a Portuguese slave ship left Mozambique, on the east coast of Africa, for what was to be a 7,000-mile voyage to Maranhão, Brazil, and the sugar plantations that awaited its cargo of black men and women. Shackled in the ship’s hold were between 400 and 500 slaves, pressed flesh to flesh with their backs on the floor. With the exception of daily breaks to exercise, the slaves were to spend the bulk of the estimated four-month journey from the Indian Ocean across the vast South Atlantic in the dark of the hold. In the end, their journey lasted only 24 days. Buffeted by strong winds, the ship, the São José Paquete Africa, rounded the treacherous Cape of Good Hope and came apart violently on two reefs not far from Cape Town and only 100 yards from shore, but in deep, turbulent water. The Portuguese captain, crew and half of the slaves survived. An estimated 212 slaves did not, and perished in the sea. “The more cargo that you have that is living, the more ballast you need because live cargo moves and is not as heavy as, say, tubs of molasses,” said Paul Gardullo, historian and curator at the Smithsonian African-American museum. “Ballast becomes a signature for slaving, and a direct corollary to human beings.” The São José had left Lisbon with 1,500 iron blocks of ballasts. Iron blocks of ballasts recovered from the wreck of the São José, a Portuguese slave ship, on which they were used to offset the weight of the human cargo. Credit Iziko Museums http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/world/africa/tortuous-history-traced-in-sunken-slave-ship-found-off-south-africa.html?_r=0 May 31 2015

Sculpture:Glass on Glass

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:25 W x 50 H x 25 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.