Sculpture and Paintings by Preston Jackson
Julieanna's Descendants: Glimpsings from the Closet Trunk
Artist's Statement – Preston Jackson
This work reflects a personal look at our history - it is an examination of life in the United States, particularly the South, from the 17th century and on into the early 20th century. The purpose of the work is to preserve cultural history and explicate attitudes within and outside the African American community. It helps one to understand the value in preserving the behaviors of people arising from a struggle such as slavery over hundreds of years and explains how the aftermath still affects us today.
I feel this is precious history - I create these pieces using bronze as a metaphor, it being a semi-precious metal. The narratives which accompany each sculpture are a type of historical fiction, drawn from research as well as from family memoirs.
In our educational system African American history is an aside to White American history. African Americans are an afterthought -- the invisible people, seen only as a group, a backdrop - the major players in history as it is told to us are only the Euro-Americans. But the history I speak of in this work is of all people who lived in those times. As ethnic blending becomes more evident within our own borders, questions as to who we are and where we come from must be answered honestly.
As an artist, I put form to this phenomenon. I attempt to create faces we can look into, to create physical beings that we can examine as well as surface renderings which cause us to understand the effects of animalistic treatment toward other human beings. As a man, I also try to see slavery and its aftermath from a woman's perspective, to probe the manner in which they withstood the brutalities they continue to undergo as women of color.
It is important that the viewer sees the artistic quality of these works - specifically the use of the figure to express the personal characteristics of each individual through gesture, composition, form manipulation and symbolic surfacing. Each figure and gesture speaks accurately about those portrayed, and each face is unique, reflective of the ethnicity of the person depicted.
Dressing Miz Eve
Cast Bronze 2005
The old rusty mirror spat back an image of two refugees entwined amidst the same evils. The span of time between their ages is etched into their faces, one prophesying what the other will become.
Mariah is seen here dressing young Eve as if in preparation for a sacrificial event. The older woman expresses no feeling of remorse, because she has trod this same path in her own life. The two of them playfully mimic the rituals of their mistress, while being conscious of the fact that all women, no matter what their status in life, experience the same subjugation to the whims of a man's pleasure.
Rescuing the Dead
Acrylic
She did not want to look directly into his eyes and speak to him, for she was aware of his character, his capabilities, and his dealings with death. He was a graverobber of the worst kind.
She had contracted him to find and dig up the remains of her kinfolk. She carefully instructed him on where they would be found, as well as giving him specific anatomical clues for identification, such as the broken small finger on the left hand of her grandfather, and, of course, the gold teeth of both parents, which had already been taken by unscrupulous characters somewhere out there. Her ultimate purpose was to assure that the bodies were, in fact, those of her loved ones, and to honor their wishes that their bodies not be stolen to be used for research.
Blackleg Gal
Cast Bronze 2007
Used to be a time when Mule Head Island was just a swamp wid cypress trees, vines, and gator holes. Now a maroon is what we call some of de slave peoples dat ran off and learned how to live dar. My granny done tole me about 'em. Shee was a geechee woman. She say you kin walk through de thickets and somepin be lookin' at you, an jus' for fun, they reach out and touch you. An you had no idee dey was dere. Yes, dey can turn demselves into trees an t'ings. Dey had weapons, yes dey did. An' some of dey guns was up in de trees wid vines tied to de triggas. You talking 'bout fightin' - one time dey held off bout 20 slave catchers - oh dat was a big fight. Dem maroon mens comes a jumpin' out from everwhere. Dey had sticks an' animal skins tied to em, jes abashin' and gashin' with dere machetes and bowie knives.
Nowadays white folks know dere's all kinda peoples here, and don't give a hoot. Dey comes roun' an' trades wid us. Some o' de wil' horses here on the island run jus' as free as dey wanna be. An one day I was able to save this baby horse from de jaws on an ol' bull alligator. When it finally let go o' de horse's leg, I pulled him up from de water and fixed him up wid some o' de medicine roots dat grows aroun' here. From dat day on, we never part company. My momma was a Seminole and my pappy, he be an African man, and now here I am, with this brown, snake-colored skin, and long thick hair. I never did care much for menfolk, cuz dat would mean babies, and stayin' in one place and fixin' vittles fer 'em. Right now, what I really likes doin' is ridin' ole Soljah and feed and protect the few peoples dat's lef' here on Mule Head Island.
Julieanna & T. J. Boykin
Cast Bronze 2003
When he returned from the Civil War, he was in very poor physical condition. But I could tell that a transformation had taken place - freedom had brought about a change in his entire demeanor.
While living together as slaves, we saw each other only when given the time by our master. After the war my common-law husband and our former master came to an agreement involving sharing. The Union soldiers had destroyed or taken most of the food and the farm animals. We had to start from the very bottom using our own bodies the way you would hook up an ox or a mule to a plow. After T.J. regained his strength, I was amazed at how he pulled the plow as I guided it through the red soil where furrows of earth revealed many layers of sorrowful acts that took place on this land.
The Emerald Tree Boa
Cast Bronze 2005
To Aunt Neppie life had no borders. All things served some purpose. She was heavily steeped in the religious beliefs of the African Methodist Church, as it was recently incorporated. Her congregation had left the white church where they were required to worship from the balcony and could not be officers or preachers. They were relegated to sitting in a separate area and giving their offerings. Even after the break, Aunt Neppie soon grew tired of this European-based religion.
Without farewells or support, she began to seek to understand spiritual beliefs and practices through another source. She chose to return to her own African roots, although she was told by her church family that such a path reeked of witchcraft and paganism, from which no good could come.
By observing nature and believing that all things arose from the earth, she began to concoct her own interpretations of spirituality. She performed trancelike dance movements, and created strange chants. All this she used to attract followers. Their practices were kept secret and were only performed in isolated places. They also spoke among themselves about revolts and freedom. They created a vocabulary of codes and various ways of disguising themselves from those who were the owners of the land. She continued this practice throughout her life. Her powers were felt by all levels of society. Her healing abilities were especially well known. It was only the mysterious deaths that occurred around her that people still question today.
We see her at the height of her career in her regalia as a voodoo priestess. She transcends our world and penetrates that elusive realm of the spirits. Holding forth the circle of thorns, she reaffirms to the gods the natural way of life and death in the form of the emerald boa and the colorful magpie, a predator-prey syndrome played out once again. Aunt Neppie is truly a woman who has broken the bonds of slavery through her revolutionary beliefs and behavior.
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